Midfield feels Town should have got more at Stevenage
James Wesolowski has called for a more ruthless streak from his Shrewsbury Town teammates after Saturday's defeat at Stevenage.
Town lost 1-0 but created a catalogue of chances particularly in the closing stages when they laid siege to the home side's goal.
A deflected first half effort from Darius Charles proved to be enough for Stevenage to seal the points but midfielder Wesolowski says the result was harsh on Micky Mellon's side.
"We've had more chances but they've got the win and that's all that matters," said the Australian. "It would be more worrying if we weren't creating opportunities, but we are. We've got to be more ruthless and put teams away early."
Strikers James Collins and Jean-Louis Akpa Akpro saw opportunities go begging in each half, while Jermaine Grandison hit the woodwork and had an effort scrambled off the line.
"If one person misses, we miss as a team," said Wesolowski. "If we keep plugging away and stick together they'll eventually start to go in. There were a lot of positives to come from the game.
"Stevenage were resolute, you know that's what you're going to get from them. They win second balls but we came with a game plan and applied it. It was just one of those days when the ball wouldn't go in the net. That's not an excuse - we know we have to put those chances away."
Town brought on Scott Vernon in the second half, ending up with four strikers on the pitch - but try as they might, they couldn't force an equaliser.
"There's a spirit in the squad," said Wesolowski. "In the last 10 minutes I thought we were going to get something, we've done it before against Tranmere. We knew Hartlepool last weekend wasn't good enough and we knew we had to bring a performance against Stevenage - we did that, but didn't get the three points."
Town, who've won all their home games in league and cup this season, now focus their efforts on back-to-back matches at the Greenhous Meadow with bottom side Carlisle United and Newport County coming to Oteley Road in the next week.
"Carlisle is a big game, we'll look to take six points from the next two matches and we can't think of anything less," declared Wesolowski. "
"We haven't done well enough in the last couple of away games. We need to make our home ground into a fortress and then work on going away from home and getting results. If we keep playing the way we are and doing the right things, it will click into place."