Aaron Wilbraham hails Shrewsbury Town character

The stand-in Town boss admitted a tinge of frustration for the visitors, despite coming from behind to net a late leveller through Shaun Whalley, after Shrews battled superbly with the conditions in the first period.

Playing against howling and swirling Lancashire wind in the first 45 minutes, Town defended manfully and were the better side.

But Salop conceded a poor goal just after the break, as a soft free-kick given away by Ro-Shaun Williams was punished by Stanley skipper Seamus Conneely's volley.

Town came back, though, to salvage a point through top scorer Whalley's poacher finish 13 minutes from time, to extend their unbeaten run to three games.

Wilbraham, who was in contact via telephone with boss Steve Cotterill from the manager's home throughout the contest, said: "I'm a bit disappointed and frustrated actually because we'd got to half-time against that wind, which was great discipline from the boys.

"I thought we stood up to it really well, we knew what to expect, getting into half-time we knew we'd have the conditions in the second half and we expected to take the game to them, like the first half.

"But we gave a silly free-kick away to go behind, they get the goal, but we managed to show great character again, to get back into the game with another good goal.

"It's a good goal and, the boys are frustrated as well, so it shows how far they have come to be frustrated drawing the game rather than winning it.

"The conditions were unbelievable, some of the worst I've seen in terms of wind, it was hanging up there, the pitch wasn't the best. We dealt with it well.

"Accrington have been on a good run, just beat Doncaster away, we stood up to the test and showed great character to keep the unbeaten run going.

"We did it (fought back) in the last game as well, how hard they work for each other is unbelievable, it's great to see."

Whalley's sixth goal of the season merited Town a deserved point. Shrews went closest in the first period, when Harry Chapman and Josh Vela were denied early on, and played good football before the break.

Wilbraham added on the goalscorer: "Shaun deserved that goal, for his efforts in the last few weeks, the gaffer's just said that to him and he's right.

"He's ran his socks off every game recently and he gets his rewards. He's got a lot of friends at Accrington, so it's good for him to get on the teamsheet and get the point for the boys, it was a proper team performance.

"To stay unbeaten means there is a great feeling in the dressing room, we don't want to keep having to come back from a goal down, but if you can do it with the character in the squad it's a great thing to have."