Steve Cotterill hails 'incredible' Shrewsbury players after Portsmouth point

Salop have had a very challenging week, not only in terms of fixtures but also with the amount of time they have spent on the road.

First, they travelled to the league leaders Plymouth, where they were unfortunate to lose 2-1.

But just four days later, they were in action again down south when they took on playoff hopefuls Pompey.

And the team showed resilience and character in abundance to get a very hard-fought point, which Cotterill was very pleased with.

He said: "I thought the boys were incredible.

"We were excellent at Plymouth, and we were excellent again today.

"The energy that we showed in that second half to get in blocks and put our bodies on the line, you don't do that without a really good team spirit.

"I said to the boys in there, they should be really really proud of themselves tonight.

"Their families should be really proud of them, really proud.

"It is a really tough place to come.

"I know that, I spent a good time here – with the fans they get behind them, it's a really tough place to come."

The schedule has been very tough on Salop, taking on three big teams in a short space of time with so much travelling.

But credit to the players for putting in another performance and leaving the south coast for the second time this week with a point.

"The travelling we've had to do during the last four days is incredible really." he continued.

"There will be other clubs up and down the country who will say they have to do this, and they have to do that when our fixtures get highlighted, but the thing is that there won't be too many clubs.

"I don't know too many more difficult away games that we could've had back-to-back, and I thought the lads to a man – with the travelling to Plymouth and back.

"The recovery, and then to go again at Portsmouth is an incredibly tough schedule.

"It is (an excellent away point), we could've had two excellent away points in the last few days between Plymouth away on Tuesday and Porstmouth away today."

When Cotterill named his side for the fixture Aiden O'Brien and Julien Dacosta were missing from the squad.

They have both been recovering from injuries.

O'Brien has been making his way back from a hip problem, and Dacosta has been recovering from a groin issue.

But even though they were both on the bench at Plymouth they were missing at Pompey.

And the boss revealed after the game the pair had suffered setbacks.

"We had a couple of injuries during the week to Aiden O'Brien and Julien Dacosta," the boss continued.

"They've fallen foul to the re-emergence of their injuries – separate injuries but knock-on effects – so they were not involved today.

"They went for scans so we should know more on Monday."