Luca Hoole picks up knock in Shrewsbury Town pre-season opener

Defender Luca Hoole picked up an ankle knock during Shrewsbury Town’s opening pre-season fixture.

Boss Gavin Cowan confirmed Hoole rolled his ankle during Salop’s goalless draw with non-league Stafford Rangers on Tuesday night.

The clash marked Town’s first pre-season outing as preparations for the new campaign stepped up.

Hoole’s latest setback comes after he missed several months towards the end of last season with an ankle injury before returning for the final game of the campaign at Gillingham in May.

Speaking after the Rangers game, Cowan said: “The big things tonight were to develop our process that we've been working on in the week.

“To stay healthy, which we were really close to. Luca has just picked up a little bit of an ankle injury, but just rolling the ankle, I think.

“So, I don't think it's anything with the magnitude that he had last season. So, yeah, we just need to assess him, but I'm hoping he’ll be fine.”

Hoole, who collected several end-of-season awards after an impressive campaign, signed a new two-year deal to remain at the Croud Meadow this summer.

The 24-year-old won the Player of the Year and Players’ Player of the Year awards, among others, after starring throughout last season.

The draw with Stafford gave supporters their first glimpse of a new-look Shrewsbury side while also providing valuable minutes on the pitch and an opportunity to put their work on the training ground into practice.

Much of the attention was on the new recruits, with all of them featuring across the 90 minutes, including latest signing Joe Gbode.

Cowan fielded two different XIs in each half as he looked to assess his squad in match action.

“I just thought the lads’ attitude and application was brilliant,” the Salop boss continued.

“It was a night to be humbled. The pitch was really difficult. It's tough to come to places like this.

“You almost want it to be like that because it means that the opposition get a bit closer to you, it's going to make things a bit tighter.

“I just said to the lads there, our big things were to stay healthy tonight, build on what we've been doing on training in terms of our process, and just have a really good attitude and application, which is what I thought we did.

“So, I am really pleased with the night as a whole. Luca coming off has hindered it a little bit, but outside of that, I'm really happy because there's a lot to critique.

“That's what we want. We need a body of work to say where we’ve gone wrong and what we've done well.

“It's nice to have that 45 minutes on top of what we've been doing in training.”