Aaron Wilbraham: Chance to go again for Shrewsbury Town

Town's interim boss, standing in for the ill Steve Cotterill, felt his side were hard done by in their first league clash of 2021, 27 days after their previous League One outing.

Shrewsbury paid the price for a slow start at the Stadium of Light, where Black Cats top scorer Charlie Wyke's looping header inside 20 minutes was enough to separate the sides and end Shrews' eight-game unbeaten League One run.

Salop were on the back foot for half hour but came into the contest with chances before the break and were the better side in the second period but could not force an equaliser.

"I think we definitely deserved something out of the game," said Wilbraham.

"Sunderland started bright, we knew they would, and we matched them for effort but we didn't settle down on the ball as we usually would.

"For the last 15 minutes of the first half and the whole of the second we were pretty much camped in their half.

"We had a few decent chances, if one of those goes in it's a totally different game. If you spoke to the Sunderland coaching staff - they said it themselves - they were lucky to get all three points. We deserved to get something."

For Shrewsbury, the resumption of league action after their widespread Covid-19 outbreak was a first league defeat in nine games, dating back to prior to Cotterill's late-November appointment.

Two points separate Town and the bottom four, but they have games in hand on rivals ahead of a trip to basement boys Burton on Tuesday.

Wilbraham added: "We will recover and we get the chance to start a new run of league games now.

"The unbeaten run comes to an end but we go again and start a new run. We take the positives from the second half into Tuesday.

"I told the lads no-one feeling sorry for themselves or heads down, because they can take a lot from that second half."

Wilbraham confirmed that new signing David Davis missed out on the trip to the north east as he is observing a period of self-isolation after coming into contact with a positive case. He will also miss the trip to Burton.

Shrews' assistant added: "I told them to not feel like they'd let me down in the second half and even the last 15 or 20 of the first half - not that they did early in the game - I just thought we took a while to settle and relax on the ball.

"Because when we pass it we open teams up. They did not let me down.

"The response to the manager not being around, to me and Dave (Longwell), has been excellent, everyone's bought into what we've done and been well on board.

"What I've learned in the last week is we've got a very honest, together group who want to do well as a team."

Town handed a first league start of the season to former Sunderland right-back Donald Love, in an unfamiliar left wing-back role, after Love was registered back into the 23-man league squad.

Wilbraham confirmed that a move to recruit a left wing-back, following Charlie Daniels' departure, was 'in the pipeline', though it now appears unlikely Luton's Brendan Galloway will make the switch.