Dave Edwards: Shrewsbury getting better every week, but draw frustrates

I have said from the very start of the season when you have so many big changes in playing personnel, trying to get a team to gel again was always going to take time.

You can see that happening now. But the frustration is they only have four points so far this season.

In recent weeks they have taken leads in games and not been able to see it out. In the first half, I felt the team started the game well and I feel like Paul Hurst teams always do.

They come out of the dressing room really strong.

The goal was brilliant for George Lloyd – he has been so good recently. He has been Town’s most consistent player in recent weeks. The fans love his work-rate.

They have been desperate for him to get a goal and it was a wonderful Town move with bright play from Leo Castledine and Charles Sagoe Jr to get them up the pitch before Mal Benning crossed for Lloyd.

That goal was a good sign of how good Shrewsbury can be on the counter-attack with the personnel they have in their team.

After the break they are just trying to keep it at 1-0 for as long as possible – I do not think Shrewsbury looked like they were going to get the second goal.

That is probably an area where the staff will be looking to take this team to the next level.

When they have come out after the break they have struggled to match what they did in the opening 45 minutes of the game.

If they can really put some concentrated focus on that period from 45 minutes to the hour-mark then that might be enough for them to get that second goal.

It just feels like they gave Rotherham a chance to build their own confidence by giving them territory and they start to find a way back into a game they had never been in.

Although Steve Evans’ side have not been in the best of form so far this season, they are a decent team. They will have a good budget, they were in the Championship last season, but the big turning point is the penalty.

I thought that was really harsh. I do not see how else Benning can go for the ball, he is too far away to dive with his head and if he does go with it then he is going to get kicked in the face.

It is a ridiculous decision and when things are not going your way these things go against you unfortunately.

The result stops that losing run and hopefully it will give Salop something to build on. There were some bright individual performances too, I think Josh Feeney has made a real difference, they will just be hoping whatever is wrong with his hamstring is not too serious.

At the moment it feels like Town are sitting ducks a little bit in the second half of games. It is very hard as a player when you are in that position.

You are desperate to get that win which will turn around your fortunes and it reminds me of a period when Sam Ricketts was in charge when we just could not get over the line.

We took the lead in games, just like Salop have recently, but the opposition kept pulling us back.