Steve Cotterill reflects on Town's second round Emirates FA Cup win over Oxford City.
Shrewsbury Town secured passage into the third round of the Emirates FA Cup with a victory over Oxford City.
Salop secured a hard-fought win over the visitors after Dan Udoh struck a late winner in the dying moments of extra-time to earn Town progression in the competition.
Town Manager Steve Cotterill was pleased with the result and feels his team can take positives away from the fixture.
On the result:
"We did some things really well today and some of our phases of play were excellent. Even though we've only been together for a short period of time, I could see things coming out today. It was hard work but I thought the lads were good today.
"Possession-wise, I thought we were very good. At times, we gave away possession because we were impatient in wanting to do well. We forced situations rather than keeping possession. If you keep the ball, those opportunities will come anyway.
"The lads were so eager to please and wanted to do well. At times, we were uptight and tried to force some things. They stuttered a little bit with their thinking but we were much better in the second half. As the game went on, we became better."
"I thought Jason was good when he came on. He was lively. He will need to get himself fitter - that is the bottom line. There are a few of the lads in the same boat. It happens when your squad is too big."
On the nature of the goal and Town's defending:
"Dan took it really well. We had a quite few chances. We had one flash wide, and a couple where the keeper made some good saves. It could have been a lot more comfortable. Having said that, Matty made a couple of important saves.
"I didn't feel ultra anxious and we deserved to win the game in the end. In the next breath, I want to give Oxford a lot of credit for how they performed today. They were excellent and made things very difficult. They changed formation and that made it harder to break them down.
"You could look at the sending off and think it maybe helped us. We ended up playing better with the ball down to 10-men than they did. It was a really tricky game. There is never an easy game in the FA Cup.
"I've only seen the red card on a mobile phone but it looks like Aaron hasn't done anything - I'm hoping that's the case. It looks like their lad had a little poke out at him if I'm brutally honest."
