Michael Appleton backs ‘professional’ John Marquis to keep firing for Shrewsbury Town after ‘mixed’ season
Michael Appleton hailed the “professional” John Marquis who he hopes can maintain his scoring touch to help Shrewsbury Town continue their upturn.
Marquis has netted two crucial goals for Salop in the space of a week, with his bullet header earning them a point against Grimsby Town on Tuesday night, following his FA Cup heroics against Sutton United last weekend.
The 33-year-old now has four goals in all competitions, and boss Appleton hopes his scoring streak can continue after a difficult start to the campaign.
“John has scored a lot of goals throughout his career and especially at this level in his earlier career,” he said.
“He's had a mixed season by his standards, and I think he'd be the first to admit that.
“But ultimately, he's a professional. He comes in every day, he works ever so hard, he looks after himself, he does everything right to try and get himself prepared.
“The last couple of games, he's had his reward from that. I hope that continues on Saturday and for the rest of the season.”
Shrewsbury sit two points clear of the League Two relegation zone ahead of their trip to high-flyers Walsall this weekend.
Although Appleton would have liked to see more attacking threat against Grimsby, he praised his side’s defensive resilience.
He added: “Even though in the second half, there wasn't really much of a threat from our point of view, I actually felt quite comfortable. I didn't think we would concede.
“I felt if we conceded, there would be a bit of fortune to it. So I'm delighted the way we sort of dealt with that.
“Yes, I would have liked us to have had a bit more of a presence in the second half. But, I don't want to make excuses, but don't underestimate what happened Friday, Saturday, going into Sunday.
“We lost two players, and people won’t see that stuff, but it is important to try and understand it.”
Shrewsbury were without Tom Sang for the clash, with Appleton revealing the 26-year-old’s Achilles was “inflamed”.
“He's sore,” Appleton said. “He felt it a little bit after the game last Saturday. He felt he'd be okay, but then had to come in for treatment on Sunday and it's not settled down as quick as we'd hoped.”
Meanwhile, Ismeal Kabia was withdrawn before the hour mark due to illness.
Appleton continued: “In the last 24 hours or so, he felt a little bit unwell, but he felt he was able to start the game.
“He certainly played his part in the bit that he did, but he was just getting a little bit weak and just felt a little bit too weak to carry on. So, that's why we had to make the change.”
