Aaron Wilbraham: Curtis Main was not Shrewsbury panic move
Aaron Wilbraham insists Shrewsbury’s late deadline swoop for ‘warrior’ Curtis Main was not a last-minute back-up for Will Grigg.
Main, 28, who joined as a free agent after leaving Aberdeen in Scotland, has been a revelation in his first two games in blue and amber and stand-in boss Wilbraham admits he was exactly what the side needed.
For the second January running Shrewsbury made a pursuit of Sunderland striker Grigg on loan, but the frontman controversially turned Salop down and instead opted for a return to MK Dons on loan around 48 hours before the window shut.
Town brought in powerful frontman Main to bolster their forward line, having allowed Jason Cummings to depart. Wilbraham said it was not a late charge for the targetman, instead revealing Shrews were looking at both a physical forward and goalscoring ‘No.9’ striker during January.
“There was a high-profile (move for Grigg) but I think we were looking for both type of strikers anyway,” said ex-striker Wilbraham, who scored more than 140 career goals.
“We’ve already got both type of strikers at the club but it’s good to have options and competition for places, that’s all the thinking was.
“It wasn’t the case of a last-minute switch for Curtis because the Will Grigg didn’t happen.
“To be fair, Curtis is more the type of player we need, it wasn’t as big an issue when the Will Grigg thing didn’t happen, for me, with Curtis coming into the team he’s done unbelievably, a great team player.”
Main, who had a brief goalless loan spell at Shrewsbury in 2013, shone on his Town bow this time around at Swindon last weekend, where he bullied the Robins defence and teed up Harry Chapman’s stunning winner.
The striker, released as a youngster by Sunderland and who came through at Darlington and Middlesbrough, then repeated the trick in the victory over Sunderland on Tuesday, supplying the assist for Ethan Ebanks-Landell and proving a handful for Black Cats defenders.
“He’s a proper warrior for the team, he comes in at the end like it’s no big deal, he’s just been sticking his head on the line and he’s sat there like ‘yeah, I’ll do it again’,” Wilbraham added.
“When you’ve got someone in your team like that it gives the boys lots of confidence, he’s a big presence up there for us.
“He’s making centre-halves scared, I can see it, and he did really well again on Tuesday night.
“To play two games in quick succession when he’s not played many games recently is really good for him as well.”
