Dave Edwards: United Shrewsbury Town proved they’ve got fight they need

Everyone will have been feeling the pressure, from the players to the manager. It wouldn’t have mattered how the result came, whether it was a good performance or bad, they just needed to get that win.

To get it in such a feisty game, where they had to show heart and determination to come from a goal behind, when everyone would have been thinking ‘here we go again’, showed real character.

It was summed up with what happened at the end. I’m not going to justify it but as ugly as those scenes were, they also showed a real togetherness, which is a good sign.

Team spirit has been huge for Steve Cotterill since he came in and while a post-match melee, in which your goalkeeper gets sent off, is perhaps not the way you want to demonstrate it, the players and management did look united in that moment.

It was a culmination of everything: Trying to hold on to the lead late on, going a man down when David Davis was dismissed and then Steve Evans in the other dugout, who is notoriously a big voice.

You have to win the war of the dugout because when he is so loud it can have an effect on the officials. Steve Cotterill and his coaching staff had to stand their own and I’m pretty sure things will have been bubbling along all game.

Trust me, as a player you would much prefer to see the manager get involved than not. If they didn’t already know the manager had their backs, they do now.

Steve Cotterill is that kind of manager. He always shoulders the blame for a bad performance and when things aren’t going well. Mick McCarthy at Wolves was the same. Harry Burgoyne obviously misses three games now and that is something he may regret. But I suspect deep down the manager is pleased Harry was willing to stick up for him.

They were big goals for both scorers. For Tom Bloxham it was a huge moment. I remember when I was young you are waiting for that first goal and think it is never going to come. To do it reasonably quickly and the fashion he did it was incredible.

Sam Cosgrove will also have been feeling the pressure. He has come in as the big signing of the summer, taking the No.9 shirt. Before Saturday he hadn’t impressed a huge amount and that goal will do him the world of good. It wasn’t an easy finish. Hopefully, he can take confidence from that.

I completely agree with Steve Cotterill on the timing of tonight’s EFL Trophy matches. It seems totally unfair. A lot of deals on deadline day go right to the wire and if things fall through you want to be ready to go. If someone does become available late on and yet the club is playing a game, it doesn’t seem right.

It doesn’t seem like a huge amount is going to happen and that is a shame. At the moment, I am not sure Shrewsbury have a squad to compete at the top end of the league. I hope I’m wrong.

They have quality players, don’t get me wrong. But I’m just not sure there is enough there for when injuries and suspension strike.