Sam Ricketts reflects on Town's narrow 4-3 loss to Middlesbrough in the Carabao Cup.
Shrewsbury Town’s first fixture of the 2020/21 campaign came to an end with Carabao Cup defeat.
Despite netting three goals away at the Riverside Stadium, Town were unable to leave the north with a win over Neil Warnock’s Middlesbrough.
Town’s Manager, Sam Ricketts, was pleased with his team’s performance and feels the Salop squad can take positives from the game despite there result.
On the result and performance:
“It was strange having a cup tie before the first league game, this normally would have been our last friendly game. As a spectacle, it was very entertaining but we have come out on the wrong side of it.
“We asked the players to change and to think differently. We wanted a different mentality. You could see the early stages of that. The starting line-up had two new faces in it with High and Pyke coming in and they played the new style to a high standard.
“We conceded two that we should have stopped and the two others I’m disappointed with as well. We have to brush up and do better with that aspect. The huge positives are that we have gone toe-to-toe with a Championship club.
“In my view, we didn’t deserve to lose the game. They were soft goals and we have to brush up on dealing with those. We need to get back into the routine of keeping goals against us down.”
On the goals:
“Scott High scored a great goal, he scored against Burnley last week as well. We did a lot of finishing in training last week and you could probably see that with the finishing in the game.
“Scott High certainly has some ability shooting from distance. That goal was a great way to mark his professional debut. I would say I doubt he will score meant better ones but he will.
“Scotty, Jason and Rekeil all got off the mark today. Jason’s first touch for that goal was exemplary and he has a wand of a left foot putting it into the far top corner.
“The last goal had 18 or 19 previous passes before it and it lead to slick finish by Ricky. That is a goal that has come from the training ground. An awful lot of work went into the goals and the play before them.”
On defeat:
“We wanted to win the game. We wanted to come here and put in a winning performance. We could have done better with all of the goals but we haven’t played a competitive game since March.
“We need to get back into the groove of all the basic things. I thought our pressure and attacking threat was excellent. We were pushing a good side right until the end.
“You can see the intent of what we are trying to do and we have to keep going. We scored three but should have scored more. We have to brush up at the other end but you can see the intent.”