Shropshire Star

Late fitness test for injured Shrewsbury trio

Shrewsbury Town are set to make late calls on their injured players with assistant manager Aaron Wilbraham saying ‘every hour is crucial’.

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Town looked set for three points on Saturday against all odds after Rob Street’s header had given them a slender advantage versus Portsmouth at Montgomery Waters Meadow.

But the visitors scored a late goal in the final stages to level the scores against a depleted Salop team battling its way through an injury crisis.

Town were without Matthew Pennington, Rekeil Pyke and Christian Saydee at the weekend – meaning their bench contained five outfield players who had never made a senior League One appearance.

And Wilbraham says they will assess those injured players later today before deciding if they can participate in the game against Plymouth at the Meadow tonight.

He said: “We have been unlucky on that side.

“At the moment, every hour is crucial, and we are just waiting to see how a few are tomorrow night really.

“We are going to wait and see closer to the time.

“It has been difficult over the last few weeks, but the lads who have come in and played have done really well.

“It is challenging but every time we have been challenged the boys have come through it and have always tried their hardest. We know we have been stretched, and teams do have to deal with this but it has been really difficult.”

Elliott Bennett and Tom Bloxham stepped in on Saturday – both having good games in the circumstances.

And it was Bennett who put in a wonderful cross for Street to head home in the 52nd minute.

“I think when players step in you want them to do well,” the assistant boss continued.

“When they have been out for a while you wonder if they are going to be a little bit rusty.

“But a lot of that is keeping the lads topped up on the training field.

“The fitness coaches do a great job with that, and they came in and played really well, both Tom (Bloxham) and Elliott (Bennett).

“It was great to see and to get a positive result was also nice for the team.”

He says Town can take a lot of positives out of their spirited performance against Plymouth earlier in the campaign, a game Shrewsbury led in thanks to Jordan Shipley’s first-half strike.

But ultimately Salop were on the receiving end of a late Pilgrims comeback.

He said: “We were unlucky. To get beat in the last minute is always difficult. We played really well that night. We have come up against them already, we know what they are about. They are a good team, nobody is denying that. But we fancy ourselves against anybody in this division, especially with our home form.

“So we’ll give everything to try and get the right result for us.”