Midfielder reflects on the trip to Roots Hall
Shrewsbury Town midfielder Louis Dodds was pleased to stop the run of four defeats in a row on Saturday with a 1-1 draw away at Southend.The game was Paul Hurst’s first as Town boss and Shrewsbury weathered a strong second half performance from Southend to claim a point.
Dodds confessed that he had been hoping for all three points, but was happy to settle for one in the end.
“I think before the game we came here for three points,” admitted Dodds.
“Maybe the second half didn’t pan out as we would have liked, we wanted more possession but I think we grew into the game and I think a point is good to take home.
“I think from front to back everyone was committed. They put the bodies on the line and you could see people working for each other and it was good to see.”
Captain Adam El-Abd scored a 25 yard thunderbolt on Saturday and Dodds admitted that the players were in shock when it hit the back of the net.
“He’s had shots in training and they’ve all be awful, but fair play to him he’s put one in the onion bag and if you look at the highlights you will see that no one can believe he’s finished it off like that, but what a strike and it should have won the game,” said Dodds.
“I think if it becomes 2-0 then it has a completely different complexion to the game and we can go on and get three points and make it a bit more comfortable. But, in the end it’s a point and I think slowly but surely the tide will turn.”
A cool finish from Stephen McLaughlin got Southend back on level terms and Dodds believes that once Town can start keeping clean sheets, they will begin to move up the table.
“It was a good finish from their lad,” Dodds said.
“Once we start seeing out games and seeing out halves, I think that’s when we will start creeping up that table.
“I think there was a lot of huff and puff, but nothing too clean cut in the second half. At the end of the day I think both teams wanted three points, but at the end of the day I think we are happy not to go home with nothing.”
Dodds admitted that the last few weeks had been difficult, but with Paul Hurst now in place he’s hoping that there will be some stability to allow the squad to move forward.
“It’s been hard, but Coyney came in and did fantastic and then the new manager and the new assistant have come in and given us a new voice, fresh ideas and you can see that training has gone up a notch,” continued Dodds.
“He’s getting to know us, we are getting to know him and I think game by game, training session by training session we will get better and we will know what the gaffer wants and he’ll know what the lads can do for him.
“I think we’ve steadied the ship, it’s a good point and we needed that just to stop the rot and we will be looking to get three next time out,” added Louis.