Assistant Boss looks ahead to FA Cup Replay
Shrewsbury Town’s Assistant Manager Chris Doig has called on the players to put together a string of wins when they take on Fleetwood in the FA Cup on Tuesday night.Town beat Millwall on Saturday and face The Cod Army in the replay after a 0-0 draw a couple of weeks ago.
Doig admitted that it was pleasing to win on Saturday, but was quick to point out that it was only one game.
“It’s always nice to win, but I wouldn’t say the mood has changed drastically,” Chris told the Press.
“There’s been a good spirit amongst the lads. They’ve worked hard, trained hard and I can’t have asked for much more from them during their time here.
“Sheffield United first half and Fleetwood second half were obviously parts of games we weren’t happy with, but outside of that I think they’ve been fantastic for us since we’ve come in.
“It was fantastic for us to get the three points at the weekend, another clean sheet and a good goal, so it was a fantastic result and a fantastic feeling in the dressing room afterwards, but it’s one game.”
This will be the third time Town have faced Fleetwood in 3 weeks and whilst Chris admits to knowing a lot about how Fleetwood will set-up, he is hopeful that the players will concentrate on their own game.
“We’ve had one okay game against them and one not so good, so we’ve got to go back to Fleetwood and put something right,” said Doig
“I just think you get into good habits and winning games of football is a good habit to get in. I’ve said to the lads that the best teams don’t win one game and then celebrate, they win one and then the next one and then the one after that.
“We aren’t in that habit, we’ve won one game, which is nothing. We’ve got to try and back it up with another game, so that’s what we’re going to be trying to do.
“Obviously, it will be a difficult game away at Fleetwood, but we’ve got to be positive and try and get a positive result and it gets us into the next round of the cup. We’ve got a good idea how they will set up obviously, but they will be saying the same thing about us.
“I don’t really concentrate or pay too much attention to the opposition. I prefer to concentrate on us and try to get our preparation right so that our performances are as good as they can be.
“I always believe that if we can get our performance to the levels that we expect then we will give anyone a game, so that’s what I like to concentrate on.”
Meanwhile, Ryan McGivern faces a wait to find out how long he will remain out after injuring his shoulder on Saturday, but there is better news on Shaun Whalley who returned to training on Monday.
“Ryan McGivern’s had X-Rays, which have been sent to the specialist and I think he’s ruptured ligaments in his shoulder,” Doig confirmed.
“I think they’re debating whether it’s a case of a rest or an operation. It might be a case of just letting it settle, which might be three or four weeks, but if the medical department think it needs an operation then you are talking months.
“So, that’s up in the air at the minute and we’re just looking to see how it does settle down, hopefully it will be weeks rather than months.
“AJ’s still out, but Shaun Whalley trained for part of the session this morning and it was nice to get him back out on the pitch and we will give him 24 hours to see how he recovers and see if he has any niggles or any sore bits after it.”