‘We’ve learnt a lot’ - Gavin Cowan delivers Shrewsbury Town pre-season verdict

Gavin Cowan has urged patience as Shrewsbury Town’s new signings continue to settle in, while confirming preparations are stepping up ahead of the new season.

Shrewsbury welcome a young Aston Villa side to the Croud Meadow tomorrow in their final pre-season fixture before the competitive campaign gets under way.

With the start of the new season fast approaching, the match could offer further clues as to how Cowan’s side may line up for their Carabao Cup opener against Salford City the following week.

The Town boss says preparations are now intensifying, but acknowledged that Salop’s eight summer recruits will need time to adapt to their new surroundings.

“Now we need to start ramping it up a little bit,” Cowan said after Town’s midweek draw with Hereford.

“Well, we have done. Tuesday night was quite strategic in where we placed it in the pre-season. (It was) very real tonight. It felt more of a real game, almost like an FA Cup tie, although we didn’t click on that in the first 10 minutes.

“But yes, we’re in a good place and we have got a new group, over half the squad are new. So, we need to be mindful that they’re going to need time to bed in.

“But the quicker they do that, the quicker they get themselves in the team, the quicker we see a bit of success, because we’ve got full belief in our own process. So, we want to keep trust in that. The players are fully committed to it.

“When we follow what it is that we want to do, we get success. And when we don’t, we don’t.

“So, it’s a really big learning night for us tonight. I’m really proud, and not just from a footballing perspective, but from a mentality perspective as well. So, we’ve learnt a lot about the players, which is great.”

Saturday’s fixture was arranged as part of the agreement that saw goalkeeper Sam Proctor join Salop on a season-long loan from Aston Villa.

However, it will be a young Villa side taking to the pitch, with their first-team squad currently in the Far East for a series of friendlies.

Town were held to a 1-1 draw by Hereford in midweek despite creating several late opportunities in the ‘A49 derby’.

While disappointed not to take their chances, Cowan was encouraged by his side’s attacking play but warned they must become more clinical once competitive action begins.

“At the end of the day, when the season comes, we’ve got to convert chances,” he said. “The lads know that, they’re all very aware.

“I’d rather us have a night like tonight, here in pre-season, as opposed to a game in the season.

“The fact that we’re creating - I think we were really devastating at times going forward. The lads really took on board and were really brave around how we wanted to play, how we wanted to shorten our game up at times, which was really good.

“Some information and detail in the second half went into them that they, again, because it's what we've been working on, we were able to adapt.

“We’re creating a lot of chances. In terms of our process, we’re elevating that a lot. The lads are in a really good place in terms of us getting to where we need to be for the opening game of the season.”