Abs looks back on a comfortable victory in the North East
Shrewsbury Town Midfielder Abu Ogogo believes Tuesday night’s win against Middlesbrough Under-21s will help carry momentum forward into Saturday’s league game with Oxford.Town won the game 3-0 thanks to goals from AJ Leitch-Smith (2) and Ivan Toney and Ogogo, who was captain for the night, said he was pleased to get the win, despite it being a dead rubber.
“The important thing was getting the win and we managed to do that,” Ogogo told ShrewsWeb.
“Sometimes these games against under 23s with nothing to play for and no crowd can be difficult sometimes, but I thought we did a professional job.
“It’s such a big stadium. There’s 300 people here, but it looks like it’s about 30 people, so it’s hard to get up for sometimes, but the boys worked hard and got the win.
“The gaffer’s still new and he’s looking at formations and personnel and still learning a lot about the boys, so it was good to get a run out and keep this little run going.”
Town looked solid at the back, keeping a clean sheet for the second game in a row and AJ Leitch-Smith was once again amongst the goals, something which impressed Ogogo.
“The aim before the game was to win the game and keep a clean sheet and we managed to do that so we go home happy,” said Abu.
“Strikers are there to score goals. It’s the hardest thing in football, but AJ’s managed to score in the last couple of games, so their confidence should be high at the moment.
“AJ’s a good finisher. He’s been a bit unfortunate so far this season with injuries and the ball not really falling for him, but I’m pleased that he scored a couple of goals tonight.”
It was a strange occasion for the Town players as they faced a side of youngsters in front of just over 300 fans, but Ogogo was pleased with the team’s attitude.
“We knew it was going to be a tough game,” said the former Arsenal trainee.
“They are young lads and they’re going to want to impress and obviously to them it’s a big game.
“They will be thinking it’s a League One team and they will want to impress, so for us we had to be right mentally and I think we managed to get the job done nicely.
“They started brightly. The pitch is nice and they are small, mobile, nippy players, but once we scored the first goal I think we won the game quite comfortably.”
Town are now unbeaten in three going into Saturday’s game with Oxford and Abs believes that winning breathes confidence.
“Whatever competition it is you just want to get out there, play games, get your fitness levels up, win games and that breathes confidence,” said Ogogo.
“Since the new manager has come in we are unbeaten, two wins and one draw. If we can get a win on Saturday against Oxford that will be a great start to his reign.
“The league is the bread and butter. Tonight was a competition that we were already knocked out of, didn’t really mean anything, so we need to take the momentum into Saturday’s game and hopefully get the win.”