Key talking points as Shrewsbury Town step up their summer tests

The game ended 2-0 to the visitors thanks to goals from Jordan James and Lukas Jutkiewicz, which gave Blues an eventual comfortable victory at the Croud Meadow.

Salop move on to an even tougher test against Leicester City on Tuesday evening – but what were the talking points from their latest friendly?

New boys at the Meadow

Several players made their first appearance in blue and amber.

Luca Hoole who had only joined this week after turning down fresh terms at Bristol Rovers played at right-back for the first time.

He did OK on the right side. Although he got caught out a couple of times, but Hoole has only been in the building for several days, and how much pre-season training he has done to this stage is up for debate. He will no doubt improve as time goes on and he learns more about his new team-mates.

Tommi O’Reilly was bright from the off. He looked as if he was good on the ball and was happy to take it in tight spaces. He had a good effort in the first half which went narrowly over the bar.

Harrison Biggins was energetic in midfield and put himself about. He had one or two nice touches – his 90 minutes were promising – while Toto Nsiala and George Lloyd were steady as they still ease their way in.

Playing out from the back

There was a conscious effort from Shrewsbury to play out from the back. There were moments when Morgan Feeney picked up the ball in his own half where last year he would have hooked it clear, but this time he took more time on it, and they welcomed the Blues press.

There was one moment in the first half where they played through it beautifully. Biggins with the clever turn on the edge of the box, enabled them to bypass the press, and then Town were away – that was a positive sign.

Paul Hurst said it is something Shrewsbury will continue to work on and something that will no doubt get easier as they have the pitch extended further.

The Town boss confirmed it is bigger already, but there are plans to make it even bigger still ahead of the new season.

Goalkeepers

Toby Savin was in the stands watching again and is still not ready to play a part in the first-team action yet. Hurst said he is unlikely to feature tomorrow night against Leicester either.

A trialist played in goal in the first half. He looked a little shakey on the ball as Town passed it around on the edge of their own area. It is hard to task being a trialist so that cannot have been easy.

Joe Young, who is also on trial, played in the second half and was more comfortable on the ball, albeit the game completely petered out with the number of substitutions that took place.

Town will need to decide on that second goalkeeper soon.

Challenging friendlies

Shrews have certainly decided against taking the easy option when it comes to pre-season friendlies. Games against Blues, the Foxes and Championship Derby next weekend all represent really tough fixtures.

They are all sides you would probably expect Town to lose to.

However, Hurst believes you learn more when you are up against it. His side will certainly be in that boat for the rest of the week, so let’s hope they get plenty out of it.