Shrewsbury Town skipper Ollie Norburn calls for some positivity

Town are currently five points adrift of safety in the League One drop zone with games at top two Hull and Lincoln to come before clashes against two more of the top nine.

But new boss Cotterill is unbeaten with two draws against two of the division’s in-form sides in Accrington Stanley and Charlton and Norburn – who netted a vital added-time equaliser from the penalty spot against the Addicks last time out – has called for optimism among all concerned.

The midfielder does, however, add that players are more than aware draws are not enough and only victories will help Town claw back the gap. Shrews, winless in 10 league games, have started the campaign without a win in eight home league games for the first time in their history.

Norburn said of the last-gasp leveller proving a turning point: “It’s a good, positive way of thinking and I think from everyone – the fans, you guys (press) and everyone we need to get some positivity around the place.

“A lot falls back to players – why managers lose jobs is down to players, we’ve got to take responsibility.

“But the new gaffer has come in, we’ve had some positive (league) results in the last week but we’ve got to turn those draws into wins. We’ll be working hard as a group to do that.”

Norburn, who netted his second from the spot of the season, said: “The late goal hasn’t been happening for us, it’s been more last-minute sucker punches against us, so that was a nice turning point.

“We’ve got to build on this. We’re under no illusions of where we are, it’s got to be more than this, more than draws, it’s got to be wins.

“It’s nice to think positive, we will be as well, but we know we have to start winning games.”

Norburn was brought to the club by John Askey and made captain by former boss Sam Ricketts. He says the ‘brutal’ nature of football led to Ricketts’ sacking.

As skipper, the midfielder had an early chat with new boss Cotterill about the current state of play and plans moving forward.

“The brutality of it is that’s football and the previous manager knows that, results weren’t going right,” he said.

“I had respect for him but I’ll always fight for any manager, that’s the pride I have in myself. I was gutted when John Askey went, he brought me in, I’m always thankful for what managers do for me, no matter who I’ll give 110 per cent.

“It’s the first time I’ve had a new manager come in while being captain – we had a slight chat, he’d heard what I was like as a character and he was basically saying what he wants to do going forward.

“He’s a winner. That’s clear. He wants to win games of football. I’m looking forward to that challenge and hopefully that gets us winning games.

“He’s been there and done it. But he hasn’t really mentioned it, it speaks for itself, he’s just said he wants to get us winning games to get us out from where we are.

“From what I’ve seen he’s football crazy, very detailed in what he’s trying to do, and that’s then down to the players to take on board what he’s doing and saying.”

“It’s early days, we’ve not had much time on the training ground, it’s been a lot of video analysis. As weeks go by hopefully we’ll start seeing the progress and the bottom line is winning matches.”

Meanwhile, reports in Australia suggest that loan right-back Matt Millar will return to parent club Newcastle Jets in January after Town missed the December 1 to trigger their transfer option.