‘So brave’: Gavin Cowan’s verdict on Shrewsbury Town’s exciting young talent

Shrewsbury Town’s fearless young guns have been hailed for their “bravery” on the senior stage during pre-season.

Cowan has pointed towards youthful energy within his squad as a key route for the club to pursue, with several academy graduates and emerging talents featuring prominently during the early weeks of pre-season.

Third-year scholars Jay Snook, Reuben Falding and Jeval Thompson-McKenzie have all been handed opportunities, including during Town’s first home friendly against Everton Under-21s last Tuesday, with Cowan impressed by their step up into first-team football.

They add to academy graduates Will Gray and Isaac England, who continue to catch the eye and are pushing for a place in the starting XI ahead of the new campaign.

Speaking after the 1-0 victory over Everton, the Salop boss highlighted the importance of developing young players within his squad.

He said: “The young lads, you look at it tonight, we’ve had Jeval out there, we’ve had Reuben out there, we’ve had Jay Snook out there, who started.

“And then Oliver Hall who started both games for us in the Isle of Man. As well as the Isaac England and Will Grays of the world.

“Then you look at the youth that we’ve brought in - 20-year-olds, 21-year-olds, 22-year-olds.

“We want to really go with that sort of young, enthusiastic, points-approved type of player. Which is the demographic that we need to be working on.

“So it’s just great to see them lads out there and just how brave they are. But they can be brave because they’ve been learning the process.

“Once they learn it and they start to perfect it, they get a little bit more brave with it.

“And I think after tonight everybody will agree with me that they’ve really acquitted themselves well.”

Summer arrivals Byron Pendleton, Sam Proctor, Jay Turner-Cooke and Arkell Jude-Boyd are all aged 23 or under, accounting for half of Salop’s recruits during the transfer window.

With the club’s homegrown talent continuing to impress alongside their young summer recruits, Cowan now has even more options to consider ahead of the new competitive campaign.

Each of Town’s third-year scholars played a key role in helping the under-18s secure the EFL Youth Alliance North West and North titles during a historic season, with their progress now being rewarded with first-team opportunities.

Before pre-season began, Cowan spoke of his excitement at the club’s growing conveyor belt of academy talent and believes the pathway into the senior squad can inspire the next generation coming through.

He said: “If you’ve got a child now who’s excelling in the under-11s and under-12s, you’re probably getting more excited.

“It could have been a bit of a vicious circle because maybe they’ve fallen by the wayside around 13, 14 or 15 because they don’t see a pathway to the first team.

“Whereas now, some of them might say: ‘Do you know what, I’ll hold off on that.’

“An agent or an adviser might be chasing the likes of West Brom, Wolves, Aston Villa or Birmingham, but what I’ll do is hang fire and see if I can get to the first team here.

“Because it’s happened with Will Gray and Isaac England. And I’m sure there’ll be many more.”