Sam Ricketts reflects on Town's 0-0 draw with Portsmouth.
Shrewsbury Town’s 2020/21 campaign got underway with Salop securing a point against last season Play-off semi-finalists Portsmouth.
Despite chances for both teams, neither side were able to find the breakthrough goal at Fratton Park.
Town Manager Sam Ricketts was pleased with the Salop performance and is optimistic about Town’s season ahead.
On the Salop performance:
“We are delighted with the point, this is a really difficult place to come. Coming away from here with anything is a good result. We ended up with a point but there is much more we can take from this game.
“I thought the players were excellent, yet they are disappointed in there because they know there are little areas where we can improve. We could have, and should have scored.
“We hit the post, Brad had a good chance and we had a few other half chances. We went toe-to-toe with a team that will be in the top six come the end of the season. We didn’t look out of place here in any way.”
On Matija Sarkic’s debut:
“We are pleased with him, he hasn’t played a lot of games. To step into a side where he knows no one, on the back of one training session, is pleasing – he did very well.
“You can see that there is a lot of potential in him. Any players we sign now are coming in without a pre-season – Marlon was the same. It's hard to get people up to speed when we are already there.
“The most pleasing thing for me was the players talking about unity within the squad. There is real competition for places. If you’re in the team, you have to work hard to stay there. If you aren’t, you have to work twice as hard.”
On Aaron Pierre’s red card:
“It’s a second yellow, unfortunately. I need to see his first one again but we can’t complain about a second yellow. The referee was left with no option.”