'Next step' - In-form Shrewsbury Town hungry for more ahead of Rotherham trip

Gavin Cowan says he is “proud” of how Shrewsbury Town have risen to the challenge and has tasked them with daring to “take the next step” ahead of their trip to Rotherham United on Saturday.

Shrewsbury registered back-to-back wins against Crawley Town and Bristol Rovers respectively to only sit outside the League Two play-off places on goal difference.

It was also the first time that they had put together successive wins in the league this season and Cowan hopes that they can continue to build on the “cultural shift”, which has taken place since he arrived in January.

‘We’re working on changing a culture’

“We want to go again. It’s just where these players are going to be willing to go,” head coach Cowan explained.

“My big thing at half-time was not being scared to take the next step. Shrewsbury Town has been quite a dark place for a few years now. That’s just stuff that goes on in terms of on the pitch.”

He continued: “It’s recovering from a relegation and there’s a lot of things that play into that. There’s nobody specifically at fault. You don’t often come into a club that is doing well.

“What we’re working on is changing a culture. We’re trying to change behaviours, an atmosphere and an energy.

“That’s one thing I’m really proud of tonight [against Crawley] and for however long I’ve been in here now.”

‘Deserve it’ - Shrewsbury strike force hit goal scoring trail

Josh Davison and George Lloyd have hit the goal scoring front in the past two games to take their respective season tallies to four apiece in all competitions.

Davison netted a brace in the 3-2 comeback win at Crawley, while Lloyd followed up his match-winner against Bristol Rovers with another goal in midweek.

On the pair, Cowan added: “I’m really proud of them because they work extremely hard. As strikers when you’re not scoring, you come under the ultimate criticism.

“Now they’re scoring, I’m really pleased to hear that they’re going to be getting a lot of the plaudits and they deserve it.

“They’re really honest, hard working lads, and they’re really connected with what we’re doing, like all of the players and god willing they continue to score.”

Shrewsbury lost four of their opening five games in League Two and found the net just twice in the process.

They have since undergone a remarkable transformation and that has also manifested itself with a much more ruthless edge in the final third.

Salop have plundered 11 goals in their last seven outings in League Two and Cowan explained how they have worked on becoming a much more efficient attacking outfit.

“We work on it a lot. I’m not going to patronise the players and say it’s something that we’ve started to make them do,” he continued.

“I always call them Dave Edwards: arriving late, being on the move in the middle of the goal and that seems to be something that the lads have really taken to.

“We do a lot of work on it and they just know that when the ball is wide that we just need to be in the middle of the goal.

“That’s sometimes where we haven’t been as a group prior to us coming in.”