Shrewsbury Town loanee challenged to ‘kick on’ after dream home debut

Gavin Cowan believes Kian McMahon-Brown’s dream Shrewsbury Town home debut is “just the start” for the loanee.

McMahon-Brown impressed in the number 10 role against Northampton Town, scoring his first goal for the club to open the scoring in Town’s 2-0 victory.

Town boss Cowan hailed a positive first few weeks at the club for the Burnley loanee and challenged him to now kick on.

“He’s a lad with lots of ability,” he said. “We’ve worked hard to get him in the building.

“I had to adjust a little bit to look at a slightly different type of player. But he’s the player, the type of player I wanted in the building.

“We worked hard to get him and we’re really lucky that we’ve been helped out by Burnley.

“He’s obviously got a bright future, but it’s only the start for him. I’ll be the first one to keep his feet on the ground.

“It’s a good start for him, but he needs to kick on from here.”

It was McMahon-Brown’s second start since arriving on a season-long loan, giving Cowan another valuable attacking option.

While the teenager caught the eye, the Town boss was keen to praise his entire side after they secured a first home league win of the season and kept a clean sheet.

Cowan added: “He’s 18 and it’s his debut, his home debut and he scores a goal. You just think to yourself, well, of course we’ve got to single him out for praise, because he fully deserves it.

“And you know what? If we praise him, it’s going to elevate him for the next game. My job is to keep his feet on the ground.

“But there’s so many warriors out there. My back three, I thought were unbelievable. I thought my wing-back’s were superb.

“The difference in the front players, the midfielders, just through a little bit of confidence, a little bit of belief, which sometimes comes with a goal that flies off the backside or sometimes comes with a goal that you saw today, which was pretty impressive.”