Shrewsbury Town players earn praise for avoiding ‘soap opera’ in the FA Cup

Shrewsbury boss Gavin Cowan highlighted that he “didn’t want to leave anything to chance” as he fielded a strong FA Cup side to ensure the Eastleigh trip was a “non-event”.

Salop dictated play from the off against their opponents, sitting 17th in the National League, writes Kieran Gallop.

Despite a one-way first half and chances after the break, Shrewsbury failed to generate daylight between themselves and Eastleigh, which left the opportunity for the home side to get back into it following a late flurry.

Cowan stressed the importance of killing the game off when on top.

“You’ve got to be ruthless,” Cowan said. “You’ve got to have this mentality to win the game ahead of time and in the 70thminute be 2/3-0 up.”

“The longer it goes on, the more nervous you get. What I didn’t want it to do was turn into a soap opera like an episode of Eastenders.”

The Shrewsbury boss went on to explain how a less memorable Cup tie is beneficial for his side.

He added: “We come, we win, we go away, and no one remembers the game. That was the professional job we wanted to do today.

“That element of comfort played a part – We kept trying to drive that intensity but it’s very difficult.”

“There was a bit of a lapse in concentration. You’ve got to be ruthless at that end as well.”

Despite this, there was praise from Cowan for how his side reacted to being pegged back after having full control of the game.

“It was needed,” Cowan said. “I think that was their only shot on target or even their only shot on goal all game.”

“I said to the lads to keep playing the way we are playing and that quality will shine through. That’s what we saw.”

Shrewsbury now aim to reach the third round of the competition for the ninth time in the last ten seasons, with the Shrews boss going on to emphasise the carrot of a potential big draw in the third round that is now dangled.

“Everybody loves an FA Cup run. Financially it’s amazing for our Football Club but equally its brilliant for the lads’ CV.

“I’ve had some great times myself as a player and as a manager in the FA Cup. We’ve got to get ahead of the next team. Whoever we draw, we will be fully focused on them, but it’s the carrot dangled.”

Cowan continued: “I’m a big believer in momentum. Today was all about that. You saw the team that we put out, and we expected to come here and win the game with that team. We wanted to give respect to the competition and opposition.

“Now it puts us in a good frame of mind to go into Oldham next week.”