Shrewsbury Town written to by authorities after incorrect decisions in Sunderland win

Officials on the refereeing panel conceded Steve Cotterill's men could well have been 3-0 victors two Tuesdays ago, ruling that Aiden O'Brien's opener for Sunderland was offside and stating that Sean Goss' late free-kick, which was bizarrely ruled out for offside by referee Will Finnie and his team, was legitimate and should have stood.

Town bagged the crucial three points anyway as they moved nine points clear of the League One drop zone and are aiming to build on two wins on the spin at Accrington this weekend after last Saturday's clash with Ipswich was frozen off.

Stand-in boss Aaron Wilbraham said: "The performance against Sunderland was a great one, we actually got an email about the two decisions that were given against us.

"The referee's panel said Sunderland's goal should've been given as offside and our goal should've stood.

"Looking at it like that it could've been a 3-0 victory, you never know. We've got to take a lot of confidence from our last performance into Saturday."

Wilbraham and fellow boss David Longwell were in Doncaster last night to see Saturday's hosts claim an impressive 1-0 win at the Keepmoat Stadium.

The break ahead of Saturday's trip to Lancashire, owing to the weather putting paid to Town's Ipswich game, has allowed defensive injury victims to move further along with their rehabilitation.

Aaron Pierre is still not near a return from calf injury and is due for a second scan later today to assess how the problem is progressing having initially been ruled out for 8-10 weeks.

Everton loan defender Matthew Pennington is set for a meeting with a specialist tomorrow to assess his dislocated shoulder - but Shrewsbury are hopeful that the injury will not require surgery.

Brad Walker has missed two-and-a-half months with an ankle injury but the versatile midfield man took part in some of training at Sundorne with his team-mates today.

Attackers Harry Chapman and Curtis Main have recovered from knocks that were not serious.

Cotterill was this week released from hospital after 33 days and will remain at home in Bristol, where he will work remotely alongside his Town staff as he continues his recovery from Covid-19.

"He wouldn't put any timescale on when he'll be back here in training, although he's desperate to be here, he's missing the boys," Wilbraham said.

"For the moment it's got to be continuing what he's been doing, giving us all the detail and being on the phone and Zoom.

"It's a lot better now he's home, he's got more access to things. There's no way the specialist would let him return at the moment because he's got to get his health right.

"He's definitely on a high, speaking to him earlier, he's not on social media but he's been aware of support, love affection from people, not just Shrewsbury Town fans, but fans of clubs he's been at, it's been overwhelming and given him a massive boost, he wanted to thank everyone."