Under-18s Coach Credits His Side's Comeback
Keep up-to-date with the Youth Team on both Facebook and Twitter.“He’s ok, as he got tackled he’s just rolled over on his ankle and slightly sprained it but I don’t think it’s too serious and in a few days he should be fine.
“There’s a few games left of the season in our own league that the lads have got to keep their consistency in and keep trying to perform and win games because they never know who’s watching.
“For people like Josh they need to keep playing like he did today because he is very close to the first-team set up.
“He’s been on the bench a few times, he just needs to keep his sharpness for if he does get his opportunity to go in there and take it."
One disappointment to Town’s second-half performance was the injury suffered by Josh Ginnelly, with the winger being stretchered off late in the game.
“Shaun Rowley has made some really good saves today but again, their chances were mainly through our own mistakes and we’ve got to rectify that.
“Consistency is an interesting word because everyone you speak to at youth level says the same thing – that they can be excellent one week and then the next they look like a totally different group of players.
“Consistency for me is the ones who are consistent week in week out, they are the ones who end up going and taking that step up to the pro level.”
Town had the majority of possession in the second-half but Tranmere did come close to snatching all three points, with some last ditch defending and goalkeeping heroics from Shrewsbury’s stopper.
“I thought we were excellent on the ball, especially in the middle to final third,” added Dawes.
“My only criticism would be that final action whether it be a pass, shot or a cut back just wasn’t quite there but all the lead up play to it was superb today and played to how we have our style and philosophy at the club.
“But I think overall we deserved to win the game especially through our possession and our chances second half.
“We were camped out in their half for the majority of the second half and we had two or three great chances particularly at the end that the game. Credit to their goalkeeper he made a couple of good saves but we have to learn from our mistakes and also remember the good things we’ve done and take that forward.”
Despite the poor start to the game, Dawes was pleased with the response from his players and felt his side did enough to earn all three points.
“I suppose if you look at the flip side of it, every time they’ve gone one or two down this season they’ve always responded and got back into the game, whether they’ve ended up winning or drawing but as a group of players they’ve got to learn from their mistakes and got to start the game sharper.
“We always work hard for our goals and there’s a good pattern of play in there when we score whereas other teams don’t seem to have to work too hard for theirs.
“It’s little mistakes, switching off or it’s just too easy for them. We need to build a mentality and have a bit a little bit of pride in ourselves not to concede goals.”
Two early goals can sometimes see teams crumble but Dawes has been encouraged that his side are showing plenty of heart and courage to battle back to earn something from the game.
“We’ve had that problem over the past few weeks, it seems to be a trait of our players that they don’t get mentally switched on in the first five to ten minutes of the game and before we know it we find ourselves on or two goals down before we’ve even started the game.
“It seems like the tempo or focus doesn’t get going early on in the game which lets us down.
“The positive is every time we do this we have a response and then we’re excellent for the rest of the game and we did that today.
“Every team knows we are technically a good side so they work hard to stop us playing and they’ll start strong and fast and we’ve got to deal with that.
“But credit to the lads we got to 2-2 and by the end of the game we had the chances to win it but I thought for 80 minutes we were very good.” Dawes said:
And Dawes, head of academy coaching, was delighted with his side’s ability to haul themselves back into the game, but was disappointed that once again, a slow start to a game has cost his side a victory.
The young Shrews found themselves two goals down inside the opening 15-minutes as they struggled to stamp their authority on the game before Ethan Jones reduced the deficit and a second-half goal from Joel Carta ensured a share of the spoils.
Ian Dawes believes that a slow start cost Shrewsbury Town's youth team all three points against Tranmere Rovers on Saturday.