Shrewsbury Town striker Ryan Bowman previews Town’s game against Morecambe at Montgomery Waters Meadow.
Bowman netted his first goal of 2022 at the weekend, turning Elliott Bennett’s cross home on the hour mark of Salop’s game against Oxford.
The striker looked ahead to the game, discussed the game at the weekend, and evaluated his season so far.
On the game:
“It’s become a big game for us. I think there are seven points between us and them so if we can win it’ll put even more of a gap between us, but we can’t look too far ahead, we’ve got to concentrate on our own game and if we play as we did on Saturday then there will be no complaints, but we’ve got to get the job done.
“We’ve prepared well, we're prepared as best as we could be. Obviously, the manager and the staff have to manage what we do because of recovery but we’ve been in the meeting room with the staff and the manager and we’ve done a bit on the pitch so we’re going into the game well prepared, knowing what we’re going to do.”
On his goal against Oxford:
“More of a relief than anything! A good bit of play leading up to the goal and Benno [Elliott Bennett] manages to pick me out in the box and I went to go short – I’ve come off the defender and he’s picked me out – and it’s a neat finish. It did [mean a lot]. I haven’t scored for a couple of months so it was more relief – I think I’ve forgotten how to celebrate if anything. [Josh] Vela’s jumped on me and fell off but it was one of them, it all happens in a split second but I’m delighted to get my goal. I’ve always got the backing from the players and the manager and the staff who say that, even though I’m not scoring goals, I’m playing well and my all-round game is improving game by game. I came out of the team after the Plymouth game and that did me the world of good. The manager emphasised this to me as well that sometimes you’ve got to earn your credit playing well before scoring goals and he says I’ve done that. I feel confident in myself so hopefully, I can get another one tonight.”
On his season so far:
“If you’d have asked me at the start [of the season], ten goals is good but [when I score] nine before Christmas, I could’ve scored a few more but as the manager said to me before, there’s more than goals to my game so overall, with it being my first season in League One, I think I’ve done okay with myself.”
On Shaun Whalley being back:
“Yeah, that’s absolutely brilliant. 250 appearances in your career is one thing but for one club is amazing. When he first started training a couple of weeks back, you could see it gave everybody a lift, including himself, and when he came on on Saturday it was brilliant. He’s a great guy to have around the place.”
