‘Really disappointing, really frustrating’ - Gavin Cowan‘s reflections after Shrewsbury Town’s defeat to Bristol Rovers

1e3b30e1-1d93-4d82-91c0-78e529444dae

It is now back-to-back defeats for Salop and for League Two’s Manager of the Month for February, Cowan, whose side sit 11 points clear of the relegation zone.

Cowan admitted Shrewsbury needed to do more going forward, saying: “I think, Saturday I probably protected the players a little bit too much. 

“Having watched it back, we know that we probably weren't where we needed to be. A couple of players going on their own agenda. 

“But this evening, I think we pulled that back. A lot of endeavour, great attitude, great application. When we defend like that, we'll always be in games. 

“The problem is when the ball turns over, if we're not good enough in possession, they're always going to get a chance. 

“Really, really disappointed - a deflected shot just really means that Coxy’s never going to get there. 

“A couple of things we work on is numbers. We overcompensate on the edge of the box there and he just gets a shot off.

“Really disappointing, really frustrating. But again, what sums it up for us is great attitude, lots of endeavour, hard work, desire, doing a job and a half without the ball.

“But for us to get to the next level, we need to be better with the ball. (We were) constantly screaming from the sidelines, sharpening our game up, wanting to pass it a lot more.

“When we did it, we actually started to hurt them on a couple of occasions.

“The lads are well aware, it's a collective thing. It's all of us, we need to be better.”

Salop are missing several players, with Josh Ruffels suspended alongside Taylor Perry, who picked up his 10th yellow card last weekend.

There are also multiple injured squad members, with John Marquis, Sam Clucas and Luca Hoole all absent.

Cowan also revealed forward Iwan Morgan was brought off after suffering a knock.

Asked if it is a serious issue, Cowan said: “He's just being assessed, so I wouldn't know. 

“We could just see that he wasn't moving right. We needed to protect him a little bit. We weren't really getting out of him what we needed to.

“It was a big night for him with family here. But, yes, he got a bit of a knock early doors. He didn't really get going after that, bless him. 

“We needed to protect him a little bit because it just seemed to be getting a bit worse.”