Graham Turner's thoughts after the 1-0 win over Walsall
By Matt Johnson
A delighted Graham Turner heaped praise onto his goalkeeper and man of the match Chris Weale after a series of crucial saves helped Town to win their first game in five in front of the watching Sky television audience.
Four Weale stops in the first 15 minutes prevented Walsall from ending the game as a contest and the reward came just ten minutes later when Paul Parry scored the only goal of the game to give Shrewsbury the success at the Greenhous Meadow.
“It’s a massive win isn’t it,” said Turner. “Whatever else happens, we needed the three points on the board.
“We came under a lot of pressure and the goalkeeper has just displayed what we knew he could do – it was an outstanding performance from him. He’s earned us the three points and the clean sheet. You sign good goalkeepers and you expect them to make saves and that’s why one of our key signings was the experience and ability of Chris.”
The Saddlers controlled the majority of the first half and Turner admitted that the change of formation hadn’t worked and that switching it around at half-time provided the impetus his team needed to see the game through.
“We started to work a little bit harder in the second half. We changed the system a little bit before the game. We’d looked at it for a couple of days in training, but what the players forgot to do was move about and run. I’ve seen dustbins play better.
“Towards half-time we just started to get a foothold, and then I thought it was even and we did a lot better in the second half once we changed it.”
Despite not being thrilled with the performance, Turner insists that picking up the results is what matters most - but he hopes that it was an enjoyable watch for the TV audience.
“I think at any point the vital thing is the result. It doesn’t matter how you get them. Managers and press talk about winning ugly, but I’m not sure whether we quite did that.
“I would hope with the cameras here that it turned out to be, even though we didn’t play particularly well, an exciting game. There were a few goalmouth incidents and they can highlight the saves.
“It’s important that when they do show the lower leagues that there is good entertainment, and I’d of thought there was that factor today – even though most of it was in our penalty area!
“When we examine things at the end of the season the performance will be forgotten but the three points will still be there.”