Boss content with opening day stalemate
Graham Turner revealed his satisfaction with a point after the opening day goalless draw with MK Dons, declaring his approval with getting off the mark in Sky Bet League One.
Aaron Wildig had the best opportunity to win it for Town at the Greenhous Meadow, but his close range volley was saved well by Dons keeper David Martin as the shutout gave both sides a share of the spoils.
“I think under the circumstances we’ve got to be reasonably pleased with the outcome, it’s a point on the board and that’s important,” said Turner.
“It was a hard game, there was plenty of tension in it. I thought we had a spell just after half-time where we did ever so well and we might well of scored in that patch.
“I thought there was a lack of confidence and lack of real belief in the first-half. We built our pre-season up on passing the ball and good movement, but I thought that was lacking.
“Second-half I thought we did a lot better and showed that bit of urgency and control and there was some interesting situations that we should have done better with.”
Despite drawing a blank, Turner was encouraged by the performance from his side, but insisted there is a lot more to come and they can get better.
“The encouraging part about it is that we can get better, that’s the pleasing thing. It’s always difficult in the first game. As a manager you never quite know what your best side is and whether they’ve worked hard enough in pre-season and it’s not until you get two or three games into the season that you start to get a measure of yourselves and fitness and so on.
“I thought it was a good indication today that we look fit, we look strong, but we just need a little bit more in there.
“The work is still ongoing. We will strengthen before the end of August, there’s no doubt about that. At the moment we’ve got what we’ve got but what I’m getting from them is a terrific amount of work.”
Bolton visit the Meadow on Tuesday in the first round of the Capital One Cup and Turner is eagerly anticipating the match-up with the Championship side after the thrilling 3-3 encounter when the sides met in pre-season.
“I watched them [Bolton] on the television this morning, they’re a good side and they’ve got some good players.
“It depends on what sort of side Dougie sends over, but it’s got the makings of a good contest and we suddenly have all the pressure lifted off us, so we can go and show what we can do.
“We had a good game against them pre-season and we’ve got to repeat that sort of performance.”
Watch the full interview with GT on SHREWS PLAYER