Callum McKenzie reflects on Town’s 4-4 draw against Blackpool FC
Shrewsbury Town scored four goals in their draw against Blackpool; with three of those coming from Archie Elmore and the last being scored by substitute Ethan O’Toole.
Town came from behind three times to draw the score level and were only able to take the lead once in a thrilling eight-goal match.
Despite earning a hard-fought point, Callum McKenzie felt that the match produced “some good bits, and some bad bits” for his team.
He said: “In the first half, we didn’t start the game too well which was disappointing. Organisation wise, we were a little bit stretched. I thought we allowed them to settle into the game and then the goals we conceded were, from our point of view, really poor; two set pieces, a deflection and a mistake from Jaden.
“But I thought the way we reacted to going a goal down and working our way back into the game was really encouraging. There were some good goals and we probably could’ve scored two or three more in the second half, albeit for a decision here or there and a little bit of sloppiness in the box.
“So overall, there were some good bits and some bad bits.”
Kian Taylor, who went off injured in last week’s game against Walsall, was unavailable through injury and the draw against Blackpool also saw Jamaine Turner and Tom Davies substituted in the second half.
Edan Sears and Taylor Townsend were brought on in their places and McKenzie gives an update on Kian, as well as the reasons for the substitutions.
“Kian’s done a little bit of damage to his meniscus. It’s still quite swollen so he might be out for three or four weeks, or maybe a little bit more depending on how it settles down.
“Jamaine was a tactical change at half time. Tom’s been out for probably two or three months now so he’s just coming back into the team. I think he’s finding it difficult to adjust to playing 90 minutes.
“He was feeling his hamstrings a little bit so we thought just as a precaution to bring him off. Edan has come on at various points in the season as an U16 and has done really well. I thought he was outstanding when he came on in the second half, so it was a positive thing.”
Town are away at Rochdale next week and the Professional Development Phase Coach already knows what to expect from the game on Saturday.
McKenzie said: “Another tough game. It always is.
“Probably quite similar to today; direct and physical. We’ve got to compete for second balls. I suppose it’s more of a League One type game than an ‘academy game’.
“So the lads know what to expect and we’ll have prepared properly over the week and we’ll go up there hoping to get three points.”