Gavin Cowan hails Shrewsbury Town togetherness after first League Two victory

Gavin Cowan was left “humbled” by his Shrewsbury Town players after they bounced back to get off the mark in League Two.

Town provided the perfect response to their midweek EFL Cup drubbing at Fleetwood Town, securing their first league victory and clean sheet of the campaign.

Boss Cowan was delighted at full-time and hailed his players for sticking together when the going got tough.

He told the Shropshire Star: “What can you ask when you’ve lost a few games and the players still stick to it?

“The players probably appreciate the fact that we haven’t ripped it up and started again. So it shows that we believe in what we’re doing.

“I’m emotional and humbled by the fact that my players haven’t gone whispering and spitting poison all over each other, and starting to look after themselves and get selfish.

“They’re a close-knit group who are connected. They’re starting to learn how to love each other. They’re starting to, like the new team-mates coming in, trusting each other. It takes a bit of time.

“But the way they’ve gone out there today after having a few defeats is, for a manager, it’s humbling. I’m very grateful to them for sticking at it because it’s easy to do it when you’re winning, but not so easy when you’ve lost a couple.”

Captain Will Boyle fired Salop to their first league win of the new season with his second-half winner.

At full-time, Cowan and his management team - including assistants Jamie Haynes and Dave Edwards and goalkeeper coach Harry Burgoyne - shared a joyous group hug in the technical area.

“If anything we’re more passionate now than when we came through the door,” Cowan added.

“We were ultra passionate then. The club’s in your blood - you want to do well for the fans.

“We’re here for success and legacy. Regardless of the situation we’re in, we want to hit the ground running.

“We work every second of every day to try and make it right. As is everyone at the football club.

“The key for us is not to get too emotional. It’s to stay passionate, stay dedicated, stay committed, but just don’t get too emotional, because this is football.

“Football is very precarious. You can play well a lot of the time and lose and play poorly and win.

“So we have to stick to what it is that we know, what we know that works. And I think that over the course of the season it’ll come good for us.”