Gavin Cowan ‘humbled’ as battling Shrewsbury end their search for a win
Salford were edged out in Sky Bet League Two on Saturday.
Shrewsbury boss Gavin Cowan was delighted as his side battled to a hard-fought 1-0 victory over Salford in Sky Bet League Two.
Centre-back Will Boyle scored the only goal when he reacted quickest in the box to turn home a tempting cross from Josh Davison 16 minutes from time.
Salford substitute Kallum Cesay headed wide in stoppage time as Salop held firm under late pressure to condemn the pre-season title favourites to a third consecutive defeat.
Meanwhile, the narrow win was Shrewsbury’s first of the season and after the match Cowan said he felt proud of the effort and belief shown by his players.
He said: “I think we looked incredibly hard to beat. The level of focus and concentration was probably the difference today.
“But from our perspective, we don’t do too much differently. We try to reiterate all of the same messages.
“I think it’s a credit to the group, the staff and the players that we did not rip it up and start again; we wanted to double down on what we know works.
“The players were incredible today, in terms of their accountability, their focus, their concentration, their attitude and application.
“That’s what I expect from a team. They were really hard-working, ran for the badge, ran for the football club and ran for the fans.
“We know we can be a little bit better in terms of quality and we can be a bit braver, but that is always difficult when you have had a couple of results not go your way.
“But full credit to the players, I’m humbled by them and their efforts today.”
Salford manager Peter Cklamovski felt it was “criminal” his side lost despite creating chances when the game was goalless and said lessons must be learned from another disappointing defeat.
He said: “The games can be ruthless. The performance was there, the chances were there and that’s a game we well and truly should have had in the bag.
“We were not lethal enough in the final moments in the box and we got punished for the goal they got towards the end of the game.
“It’s criminal how we don’t win the game and it’s unexplainable how we actually lose the game.
“Ultimately, it’s on us and we are not accepting this. It’s not good enough on our part and we acknowledge that and will use this as a harsh lesson to bounce back from (in our) next game.
“They had nothing other than that moment (the winning goal). Inside, the boys know we should have won that game; they know we had the chances and limited them to next to nothing.
“At the same time, there is a bit of an edge that we have to address and make sure this does not knock us down. We stay together, keep building and moving forward.”