Defenders thoughts after the draw with Swindon
Jack Grimmer was disappointed after Shrewsbury’s 1-1 draw at the Greenhous Meadow to Swindon Town made it five home games without a victory. The defender believes it is an issue which needs addressing immediately.
He said: “It is ridiculous to be honest and it is something we need to work on.
“We worked hard on set plays and we have sorted that out and got that out of our game but yet again we go behind and it almost becomes normal for us to be fighting an uphill battle. You can comment on the team showing good character to dig in and get a draw back and in the second half we did a lot better with the press. But I think we could have countered better today and I could have put some better deliveries in. It’s another point though and we get a break from the league now on Tuesday.
“When we play at home I don’t ever think about the form because I love playing in front of the crowd. When you are bursting forward and they give you that roar it gives you an extra couple of yards of pace. Last season was similar with us performing better away from home. Maybe it will be a bit of a breather for us having the away games because we do seem to be better on the road.”
The 22-year-old felt Shrewsbury should have put in a better performance than what they managed.
He said: “You always know what you will get with Swindon. They kept the ball well and we didn’t. We have played much better in the previous two games and have come away with only a point in them as well.
“I want to win games. If you won one of those three games and lost the other two then you would still be on 3 points. It is vital that we go for the wins. We had some good chances but they controlled the game. It is difficult to play in that situation because people get frustrated. I have sympathy with the fans because again we haven’t won at home against a team that I think we should be beating. I don’t know what is going on with the home form and it isn’t near where it should be. But for all the possession they had they weren’t carving us open. I think we did pass back a few too many times today and I think as a team today we couldn’t find any gaps.”
Grimmer played in AJ Leitch-Smith in the closing moments but the striker’s point blank effort was saved and the former Scotland Under 21 International feels Shrewsbury have to do better with their chances.
He said: “I thought that was going to be the goal. If it was put anywhere else then it was in the back of the net.
“There was a chance right at the end and I failed to put in a ball when I should have found Ivan Toney but we just didn’t have that flow and the ideas to break them down. We haven’t been getting the luck but we need to finish chances. We haven’t been getting enough of them recently to afford to miss. Especially today we only had about three or four so we needed to put them away.”
Gary Deegan was given his marching orders in the final five minutes of the game for a second bookable offence but Grimmer jumped to the defence of his teammate.
He said: “Deegan is that kind of player, the same as Ian Black. You are never going to tell them to pull out of tackles because that is their game.
“The management touched on it a bit that we need to keep eleven players on the pitch but you can’t blame people for going for the ball. He knows he made a mistake going for it. But I would have him in my team every day. He is a whole-hearted player and you know what you are going to get from him with his passion. The player fouled was rolling about as if he broke his leg so he didn’t help the cause.”
The loanee from Fulham was keen not to get carried away even with the result leaving Shrewsbury in the relegation zone.
He said: “If we had won one of the last few games we wouldn’t be in the bottom three so I think people can get carried away with the league positions.
“You need to look at the points between teams. I think there is about four or five teams above us on 12 points and we are on 10 so one win and you are on par with a lot of other teams. We do need to turn our home form around quickly but it is a competitive league. Anyone can beat anyone and three wins on the bounce would get us in the top half of the table. The frustrating thing is we haven’t been played off the park in any of the games. If you lose and you are outplayed you can take it but we have been in every game and haven’t struggled with teams. It sounds a cliché to say it is fine margins but that is what it is.”