Striker insists players must stick together
Town forward Ivan Toney insists there is enough quality inside the changing room to haul themselves off the foot of the table.The on-loan forward scored twice against his hometown club in the 4-2 defeat at Greenhous Meadow on Saturday and, despite the defeat leaving Shrewsbury bottom of League One, Toney believes there is more than enough quality to get themselves out of trouble.
“Obviously it’s disappointing for the lads but we’ve just got to stay together as a team and keep going and hopefully a result will come our way,” said Toney.
“There’s more than enough (quality to climb up the table), the players have been there and done it and I’m sure we’ll get a few wins under our belts.
“I was at Barnsley last season and we were bottom at Christmas and managed to get promoted so who says Shrewsbury can’t do that. We’ve got to just keep grafting and hopefully the wins will come our way.
“If you stick together and keep working hard then why aren’t the results going to go our way? Why isn’t the luck going to come our way? The last goal sums up our luck when we’re down there as it comes off the post and hits our keeper. On a positive note if we keep working harder for each other then we’ll get the wins.”
Toney’s brace from the penalty spot took his tally to five goals for Town since his loan move from Newcastle and the 20-year-old believes that, although the best team won on Saturday, his side believed they could have got something from the game.
“I reckon in the first-half we were good as a unit – attacking together and defending together but when the first goal went in our heads went down a bit.
“It’s our self-confidence, we need to pick ourselves up and keep going but I don’t think the lads have done that as well as we’re capable of and it just went on from there really.
“Of course we did (think we could get an equaliser) we had them on the ropes. The half-time whistle came at a good time for them. I reckon another five more minutes we would’ve got a goal but that’s how the game goes.
“We’ve got to come out of the traps firing and we didn’t manage to do that as well as we are able to but I’m sure we’ll be able to do it next game and get that first goal.”
And the striker takes little consolation from scoring against his former club.
“It (goals) doesn’t mean nothing if you’re losing the game does it? But obviously on a personal note it’s good to score against my old team.
“I was firing all the boys up before the match. Obviously I wanted to win the game but by all means I’d say that the best team won on the day. They’ve done the basic things correct and managed to win 4-2.
“I’m trying to improve as a player myself but I’m also trying to do anything for the team to get a win under our belt and kick on from there.”
Toney also paid tribute to caretaker manager Danny Coyne and the club’s supporters and maintains his belief that if we all stick together we can start to climb up the league.
“He’s (Danny Coyne) a great guy and he’s trying his hardest to keep the team together and we all thank him for that and it’s just up to us to repay him for that,” added Toney.
“We’re doing as much as we can to repay him for taking over the job.”
“It’s not done till it’s done. No one likes to be bottom, no one likes to be losing, especially the fans who are paying their money to come and see us but we’ve got to repay them as well as the manager and everyone around us. So we’ve got to stick together and keep trying to get a performance.
“We’re all professional footballers and we’ve got to take it upon ourselves to get ourselves out of this mess and I’m sure we’ll be able to do that.”