Analysis: Defending nowhere near good enough, Shrewsbury players must look in mirror and take responsibility

Shrewsbury are never going to end their Spotland hoodoo defending like that. Deal with balls into box like that and it’ll be another 18 winless years.

Sam Ricketts’ side shot themselves in the foot twice on Saturday with a double-barreled shotgun with the way they defended – or failed to defend – set-pieces.

It was for that reason they lost this game, their 10th away league defeat in 18 this season. Because a poor Rochdale side, who had won once in 12 and not kept a clean sheet since November, did not out-play or out-class Shrews, the difference was in the penalty areas.

It is time these Town players looked in the mirror and stood up to the mark. Too often blame and attention has been deflected away from them and placed elsewhere. But they have jobs on the pitch and they have all too often neglected them.

They have all too often been labelled too good to go down. I’d stand by the squad having the quality to stay up. But the team as a whole need to roll their sleeves up. This won’t be easy and it isn’t going away.

Ricketts admitted his side were below the levels they have set recently in embarking on an encouraging five-match unbeaten run. But even the levels they gave would have been enough to take something from the Crown Oil Arena had they defended properly.

But horrible levels of organisation, ghastly attempts at clearances and sluggish reactions to pretty simple deliveries into their penalty area meant Town came away from a relegation rival with their tail between their legs, leaving supporters with more questions than when they arrived.

Working on defending is surely a must. From the corner for Rochdale’s opener and the free-kick for their second – who was organising? Who was pulling and pushing their colleagues into shape?

There was clearly a lack of that and, sometimes, the players have to take responsibility.

Ricketts, Eric Ramsay and Danny Coyne can work all they want at Sundorne on where players must be standing when a ball is flung into the box. They can’t physically put the players into place on a matchday.

It is up to the players to have a bit of desire to carry out their jobs after crossing the white line, be in the right place, stop their man from getting to the ball and keep it out of the back of the net.

Who was supposed to be keeping out defender Kgosi Ntlhe for the goals? He scored the first and saw a shot saved for the second as fellow stopper Jimmy McNulty tapped home.

There has to be some ownership and acknowledgement of mistakes. There may have been in the dressing room. But there has to be recovery and improvements.

Dealing with set-pieces has been an Achilles heel all season, particularly under Ricketts and it needs to stop or else Town will struggle to secure the consistent results they need.

As the visitors fell 1-0 and 2-0 behind, after 15 and 47 minutes from chronically similar and avoidable goals, fretting Salop eyes began to wander at the League One table and other results. By 5pm there were victories for Walsall, Bristol Rovers, Gillingham, Bradford, even basement-boys AFC Wimbledon.

Results elsewhere rubbed salt into Town’s open Rochdale wounds.

There should not necessarily be a knee-jerk reaction because Town dropped three places to 20th and are just one point clear of the dreaded bottom four.

There is cause for concern, notably at the team’s inability to defend set-pieces, but the table will chop and change so much during this remarkably tight relegation dog-fight that – while it’s a boring, tedious old cliché – Salop must concentrate on the next game.

That, for the record, comes quickly tomorrow night and is a fairly daunting trip to Plymouth, who have really improved in typical Plymouth style recently.

The fact Walsall can climb from 20th to 16th with a single victory means there is almost little point in worrying about the table until further down the line. Focus on getting the points on the board and the standings will take care of themselves. Town have showed in recent weeks it is in them to do so.

Ricketts was correct in saying his side had more shots than their hosts, worked the goalkeeper more often than Dale and were generally in the match.

That in itself must make it more infuriating for the Town boss as two pieces of sleepy defending cost them and crank up the pressure.

Greg Docherty’s late goal almost set up a grandstand finish and, in all honestly, 2-2 would have been a fair reflection on proceedings but it would have glazed over the defensive concerns.

The anguish was palpable as Josh Laurent’s shot was saved, Stefan Payne hit the bar then had it cleared off the line and Luke Waterfall shot into the side netting, followed by the full-time whistle. Fine margins.

On another day Shrews, who had the better chances first half, would have led. Fejiri Okenabirhie went close before his cross somehow evaded everybody.

Shaun Whalley was, as usual, trying his utmost to spark Town into life while Waterfall headers stayed out.

This time there can be no berating Ricketts’ changes and rotation for the result. The boss answered calls from fans by starting Docherty and Okenabirhie.

On paper he fielded what should be an exciting Town XI, one that tormented Doncaster not so long ago.

But inconsistency plagued them, again, in both boxes.

The big lesson from another wretched afternoon in the gloomy conditions of Spotland was that, defensively, Town must improve.

If those set-piece woes continue to plague Shrews between now and early May then there will be rocky times ahead.