David Longwell: No time for Shrewsbury to feel sorry for themselves
Shrewsbury Town players have been told not to feel sorry for themselves and show ‘strength of character’ after falling to a third game without victory.
Town managed just a point from three games in a week against Bristol Rovers, AFC Wimbledon and Fleetwood after Saturday’s 2-0 home defeat to the Cod Army.
Salop, still without Steve Cotterill as he continues to recover from Covid-pneumonia in hospital, remain 17th in League One and eight points clear of the drop zone ahead of tomorrow’s trip to basement boys Rochdale.
The hosts were deservedly beaten by Fleetwood on an afternoon to forget. First-team coach David Longwell said: “You can’t feel sorry for yourselves, we’ve said to the players you can’t feel sorry for yourselves that you lost a game and lost a game last week.
“We’ve just got to show strength of character and get ourselves as best prepared, to recover properly, to go again tomorrow.”
Longwell added: “They’ve just got to recover properly. Any professional footballer, whatever level you’re at, you’ve got to make sure that from now (post-game) they recover.
“They should do all the things the sports science, physios and staff ask of them, to eat properly, rest properly, to get their body recovered and have a mental rest as well.”
Boss Cotterill has now missed 11 Town fixtures during his time away from the club. He was only present for nine games.
Longwell said of the boss’s message from a distance: “The manager just demands that we raise our standards as we always try to do and make sure we get back to the levels of performances that gives us the chance at results we had previously.”
Rochdale have not won at home since early October, a run of 16 games.
