Mat Sadler's thoughts after the defeat away to Blackburn Rovers
Shrewsbury Town defender Mat Sadler has emphasised the importance of learning from past mistakes in wake of Salop’s 3-1 defeat to Blackburn Rovers at Ewood Park on Saturday.
Sadler, who has been a mainstay in Paul Hurst’s side this term, played the full 90 minutes as Town toiled in Lancashire, and after the match he revealed his disappointment at the result.
“Obviously we’re disappointed, it was a game that we wanted to do well in for sure,” he told the assembled press. “We haven’t taken anything from the game, but we’ll lick our wounds and come back stronger.
“Without the shadow of a doubt there’s a lot to learn from that game, sometimes we caused our own downfall by playing in areas we shouldn’t have been playing in, inviting pressure onto ourselves.
“But equally we were the better team in spells and there were times when we passed the ball well and played in areas dangerous to them – it’s just imperative that we learn from this experience and come back stronger.”
The defender also admitted that he felt the goals Town conceded against Rovers ‘were out of character’, and he pressed that the result would only bring the squad closer together as a unit.
“The goals we conceded were out of character for us as a team today,” he added. “We’ve haven’t been giving away goals like that recently, we’ve been solid as a unit.
“Today we wanted to prove we are where we are, because we’re as good as we think we are and that belief has to continue.
“It was a learning experience today, but I’ve got full confidence in this team and we’re going to stay together as we always do.”
Sadler also admitted that he, and the rest of the squad, would look to use Saturday’s defeat as motivation to bounce back to winning ways in the upcoming FA Cup third round replay with West Ham on Tuesday.
“For me, the loss has only strengthened the desire to make this a special season for us, because we can use today as a motivation to move forward.
“We’re looking forward to Tuesday there’s no doubt about it, we want to give the travelling fans something to go home with, it’s in a nice big stadium against a Premier League team, so we’ll be looking to give a good account of ourselves.”