Under-18s Coach Praises Win At Oldham
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"I think the wingback position that Ryan has been playing in is perfect for him," said Dawes.
“He's been one of our better players this season. He gets in good goalscoring areas and it has been coming.
"We had a couple of chances in the game and his goal was coming."
And Dawes, who has switched the captain into a wingback role, believes Hickman’s goal had been coming.
Defender Ryan Hickman opened the scoring on Saturday and it was also his first goal as a Shrewsbury Town scholar.
"It was a complete contrast," said Dawes.
"I questioned our lads' application after Tuesday's game.
"It was a completely different approach (against Oldham on Saturday. We went as a group of players with a point to prove not only to ourselves but to the opposition.
"That was more like us and probably our best performance of the season, man for man.
"At half-time it could have probably been 4-2 because there was a few chances at either end.
"I think that on the whole in the first half we controlled the game. We had a better style of play and that's the best I've seen them off the ball, which enabled them to play."
But the young Shrews put in a much-improved performance in the game at Chapel Road Training Ground.
Dawes, head of academy coaching, was left disappointed by his side's 2-1 defeat to the Latics in the Football League Youth Alliance Cup on Tuesday.
Ian Dawes was delighted with the response from Shrewsbury Town's youth team as they beat Oldham Athletic 2-0 in the league on Saturday.