Eric Ramsey reflects on his side’s 1-1 draw against Walsall FC in the Youth Alliance Cup.
Shrewsbury had a large amount of possession against Walsall, but were unable to capitalise on this and were left feeling they could have scored more goals to get their first win in the Cup. But manager Eric Ramsey was left feeling ‘pleased’ for his side.
“I thought we played really well. It was as good as a performance I can remember really. In the main we controlled it, we had the large percentage of possession. We played the game in the oppositions half, we had a number of good quality chances.
“It was a good game; it was a really good game. I’m pleased for them in spite of the fact that we probably haven’t got the result we deserved.”
The goal that Shrewsbury conceded was through a penalty, and Eric shares his thoughts on that decision.
“I think it was a penalty. Tom has made a last-ditch tackle and unfortunately it hasn’t come off and it was one of their rare ventures into our half, I would say in the first half so it was a disappointing one to concede because we hadn’t quite controlled the counter attack as well as we might.
“I think the way we responded having gone a goal down was really pleasing.”
They had many chances after Archie Elmore scored the equaliser and Ramsey felt that they could have gone on to win the tie.
“I think so. I think everything said that we would, based on possession and chances, territory in their half.
“I think the fact that we made all of our subs and then James Rowlands had blown up 10 to 12 minutes from the end and that’s left us with 10 effectively, and I think that probably killed our momentum a little bit but I thought once Archie had scored, I was adamant we’d go on and win it.”
Next up for Shrewsbury in the Cup is an away game to Doncaster Rovers and they will need to win that game to ensure they proceed to the next round.
“Yes it will be a must win. I’d like to think that we’d have a chance. I’m not exactly sure how the land lies but I think going into the final game, we’ll still have a chance of going through if we were to go on and win it.
“So we’ve said to them at the end that it’s an occasion where there will be a bit of pressure, which isn’t always the case with these games so we’ll look forward to that.”
Asked on whether they will be hoping to perform the same as they did against Walsall, Eric said: “Absolutely. It’s very much the case of picking up exactly where we left off at the end of the game today.
“I think more often than not when we’re at home we do dominate games, particularly from a possession’s point of view. And often the case is that we don’t convert that possession into goals and that’s something we work on really hard during the week and I’m hoping that that begins to change in the coming weeks.”