“Unbelievable!” - Gavin Cowan hails Ismeal Kabia after late heroics

Gavin Cowan hailed Ismeal Kabia for his “unbelievable” wonder strike as Shrewsbury Town signed off their home campaign in dramatic fashion.

Salop came from two goals down to earn a draw with Fleetwood Town, extending their unbeaten run to three matches.

With only minutes remaining, Town looked set to fall to defeat in their final game at the Croud Meadow this season.

However, Kabia met a Fleetwood clearance with a stunning long-range effort, rifling the ball into the top-right corner and leaving goalkeeper Jay Lynch rooted to the spot as it flew into the net.

The goal sparked wild celebrations among the home fans, and Cowan admitted the Arsenal loanee may not score many better.

“I wouldn't have thought so,” he said. “I taught him everything I know, of course - pace and striking the ball.

“He was brilliant. He doesn't get it right all the time, he's in an area of development. But one thing you can say about the lad, he's brave in his game.

“Just to even think about having a strike from there. You roll the dice, you know you're going to win every now and again. It's an unbelievable strike.”

Shrewsbury fell behind just before the break through an unfortunate Taylor Perry own goal, before Crispin McLean doubled Fleetwood’s lead approaching the hour mark.

But, as has been seen throughout Cowan’s tenure, Salop showed resilience and determination to fight back.

Substitute Josh Ruffels pulled one back for Town before Kabia’s stunning late equaliser salvaged a point.

Despite the comeback, Cowan felt his side deserved more and was frustrated by some officiating decisions, believing there was a foul on Sam Stubbs in the build-up to Fleetwood’s opener and that Town should have been awarded a penalty when Tom Anderson was brought down.

He added: “We deserved it. I think it's the least that we deserved.

“Their first goal was a foul out and out, we have seen it back. We should have had a penalty on Anderson, that's another thing.

“It's hard, because as a manager, your whole week and your whole job rests on decisions that are really poor like that, really poor.

“I said to the referee at the time: ’You're not going to want to watch that back‘.

“We get the luxury of watching it back. But that's unforgiving for me, he is seven yards away, eight yards away. That's crazy.

“From my perspective, I think we could have edged it second half. I thought we were really brave. It was excellent.”

Goalkeeper Will Brook made his first appearance under Cowan and since late January. He had been on the bench for Town’s previous 18 matches, with Matt Cox keeping the gloves during that run.

He was one of four changes to the side as defender Will Boyle was absent from the squad.

Boyle had featured in all but one of Salop’s games under Cowan prior to the Fleetwood fixture, making 42 appearances in League Two this season.

Explaining Boyle’s absence, Cowan said: “He has been excellent, it is just family personal reasons for Boyle. We are all thinking of him at this time.

“He won’t be with us today. I told him to stay with his family, which is the right thing. He will be back with us next week, hopefully.”