Temporary boss talks to the press ahead of the trip to Walsall
Shrewsbury Town’s Temporary boss Danny Coyne is relishing Saturday’s trip to rivals Walsall.Coyne took over the squad after Micky Mellon’s departure last week and the players put in a spirited display last weekend away at Bradford.
The former Wales ‘keeper and Town’s goalkeeping coach admits that the players have been brilliant since Mellon left the club and will go into Saturday’s game focused on getting a good result.
“The lads have been great,” Danny told ShrewsWeb.
“It’s a situation that obviously nobody wants to be in. It’s that unknown of if a new manager comes in, how are the lads are going to feel? Does he fancy them as players?
“So, it’s hard for them at the minute and my job at the minute is just to keep their heads focused on training, focused on the game at the weekend and it’s worked well so far.
“We are trying to play the game at the weekend with everybody together, knowing what we are going to be doing and that is how we’ve gone about training all week.
“Everybody knows their own jobs and we know how important the game is for us. It’s a local derby as well. All the lads are up for it and it makes my job a lot easier.”
Walsall lost a number of players to teams higher up the divisions over the summer, but Coyne believes they will still offer a stern test for Shrewsbury.
“They are an organised team,” said Danny.
“We’ve watched them on a number of occasions. They will work hard. They are a fighting League One team at the minute and they have lost a lot of key players, but they are a decent side and they are at home and it’s a derby game.
“We are up for it, but to be honest we are just concentrating on ourselves and taking that into the game. We are just focusing all our attention on that.”
Walsall currently sit 16th in League One and a win on Saturday could see Town draw level on points with the West Midlands. The temporary boss in under no illusions as to how important Saturday’s game is.
“It’s a huge game because of where we are in the league,” said Coyne.
“We know what we want to do and how we are going about it. Everybody’s up for it and positive and that’s how we’ve got to be.
“No matter what happens in the next 5 to 10 games, you’ve got to be positive because there is another 30-odd games to go in this league and if you start feeling sorry for yourself in any shape or form it’s not going to go well.
“They’re all tough games in this league. It’s not an easy league at all and we know that. Focusing the lads on the game that’s coming up is my job and that’s what I’m looking to do, but everything has been focused on getting everybody in the right frame of mind to go there.
“We know what we are going to be doing. We are positive with everything we’ve been doing in training, taking that into the game and that’s what we are looking to do.”
Finally, there was some good news on the injury front as Louis Dodds returned to training, leaving Danny Coyne with near full fit squad.
“It looks like most of the lads are available for selection as we speak,” continued Danny.
“Doddsy (Louis Dodds) came through training this morning, so we will see how he is tomorrow. Shaun Whalley is probably the only one that will still be ruled out for a few more weeks at the moment, but apart from that everybody is good to go.”