‘A spell on the goal!’ - Gavin Cowan frustrated after Shrewsbury Town’s Hereford draw

Gavin Cowan joked there must have been a spell on the goal as he rued Shrewsbury Town’s missed chances against Hereford.

Salop spurned a string of chances to complete the comeback at Edgar Street after George Lloyd’s stunning strike cancelled out Hereford’s early opener.

Cowan felt his side did enough to win the game but was left frustrated by their inability to turn dominance into victory.

He said: “We were extremely dominant in terms of chances. I think in open play as well, very dominant.

“We had a little bit of an environment shock in the first 10 minutes, I relayed to players that I don’t think Hereford will be seeing this as a pre-season friendly - I think we were very much thinking it was going to be that, and it certainly wasn’t.

“We went 1-0 down and we were miles off it in terms of our application, which I’ve not said previously.

“Thereafter, we came into the game and just dominated and created a lot of chances and didn’t convert, which obviously that’t what the game’s about, outcomes.

“I was disappointed with the last 10 minutes of the first half as well. We just started to take a foot off the gas a little bit, almost sulky, that we hadn’t got the ball in the back of the net, and spitting our dummy out a little bit.

“We had a good conversation at half-time…because the one thing that I’m really big on, is attitude and application. We spoke a lot about mentality.

“You see the second half, we took complete control of the game. We had I don’t know how many chances (there were) - my centre-halves could have scored a couple between them, if not hat-tricks.

“We need to do better in terms of finishing, which I think is coming. I’m seeing it in training every day, so I think it’s going to come.

“But tonight, for whatever reason, we just couldn’t. I think they might have had some sort of spell on the goal or whatever, but it just wouldn't go in.”

The draw at Hereford was Town’s penultimate pre-season fixture before the new competitive campaign begins.

They round off their preparations on Saturday when a young Aston Villa side visit the Croud Meadow.

Cowan continued: “There’s a brilliant body of work from West Brom and from tonight’s game that we’re going to be able to take into Thursday and really recap on that and elevate our process.”