Shrewsbury Town boss issues positive update after worrying injury

Early indications about George Lloyd’s condition are ‘positive’ according to Shrewsbury Town manager Gavin Cowan, after the striker suffered a horrific injury in the 3-3 draw at Rotherham.

The Salop centre-forward was stretchered off at the end of the first half at the AESSEAL New York Stadium, in a game that also saw both sides finish with ten men.

Lloyd collided heads with Rotherham defender Dominic Iorfa in the Millers’ penalty area. The Town frontman received treatment from paramedics, alongside the medical teams of both clubs, for more than ten minutes before he was stretchered off.

Iorfa tried to continue after the stoppage but was also unable to recover from the collision and had to be substituted.

Both sets of supporters rose to their feet as Lloyd left the field of play.

“From what I’m hearing, he’s up and about,” Cowan said when asked about Lloyd’s condition. “They’re still doing tests on him, and hopefully he’s going to recover. We’re hoping it’s a positive one (update on his condition).”

“Obviously, we’re really disappointed to lose him so early, but I’m pleased to say that, as it stands at the moment, it’s positive.

“We haven’t got a definitive answer yet, but we’re just waiting on the medical team.”

Shrewsbury trailed by two goals inside the first 20 minutes, with former Wrexham striker Paul Mullin scoring twice in three minutes to give the Millers an early advantage in South Yorkshire.

The complexion of the game changed not long after, when Kian Spence was sent off for a high challenge on Shrews midfielder Will Gray. Salop took just a couple of minutes to halve the deficit, Josh Davison smashing home from close range.

In the second half, Shrewsbury drew level when Josh Ruffels headed in at the back post from Arkell Jude-Boyd’s cross, and they thought they had won it when skipper Will Boyle headed home at the far post from Gray’s cross.

But the drama did not end there. Tom Bradshaw made it 3-3 with 14 minutes remaining, and Kian McMahon-Brown was shown a controversial straight red card for a push on Joe Rafferty.

“Ultimately, I’m really proud of the players,” Cowan said, reflecting on the game. “From the start, we were 2-0 down and I was really disappointed.

“Can’t fathom why that happened. Just individual errors and people making poor decisions, which we’ve been really good at and that I know they’ll take responsibility for, but we’ve got to be better. We’ve got to be better.

“Then, obviously, the red card comes. I felt like we were just getting into the game and just starting to settle into it, which was far too late, but it was good to see.

“The red card ensues and we’re right on the ascendancy with a goal before half-time.

“It was about staying patient and playing our patterns, not chasing after anything, just waiting for the opportunity to present itself.

“We did it brilliantly. We needed to do it more. We needed to be braver, even though we were brave.

“You get a goal and then you go 3-2 up and you really think it’s going to be a positive day. I felt a little bit that we were naive from there.”