Shrewsbury Town boss Steve Cotterill previews tomorrow’s game away at Rotherham United.
Town head up to South Yorkshire to face the league leaders tomorrow afternoon. Both sides picked up a win on Tuesday night and are in decent form ahead of their second meeting in just over three weeks.
Shrewsbury picked up their biggest win of the season at home to Morecambe last time out, putting five past the visitors without reply. Meanwhile, Rotherham beat Lincoln City at home by two goals to one.
Cotterill discussed Rotherham and what he expects from the opposition and reflected on Tuesday night’s goals.
On Rotherham:
“They’re just a good and honest team, I really like them. I watched their game from the other day against Lincoln and they’re just a good and honest team. You don’t get to be top of the league without being a good and honest team with some good individuals. We know they’ve got a few injuries but that’s no different to what we’ve had throughout the season so you know, you are where you are and where you deserve to be and they’re top of the league so we know it’s another tough game for us but one we’re looking forward to.
"There is [a lot of optimism in the side going into the game]! There’s also a warning that comes with that because one thing’s for sure: they’ll be ready this time. I said it before when we played against Fleetwood and we had a really good result at their place and I told the boys they’d be ready for us this time so I expect a different animal. If we can put in the same performance for ninety minutes that we did in the second half against them, then we’ll be okay.”
On the players’ physical health:
“Always all okay when you’ve won! Everybody’s good form, I’ve seen most of the lads this morning so yeah, everybody’s good and everybody came through the game on Tuesday all okay so yeah, we’re looking forward to it.”
On the goals from the Morecambe game:
“There are two of them that are standouts: Luke’s [Leahy] goal where he takes a touch, brings it away from their lad, and puts it in the top corner is a really special goal and probably Dan Udoh’s goal where he cuts inside and smashes it – which is what I’ve told him to do for a long time – and I think that’s probably why, if you look at some of the goals he’s scored, they’ve been more like that because once you’re in and around the penalty area and Dan gets his strike off, the ‘keeper won’t save it. I’m pleased with that and the performance more than anything because, even though we didn’t score until one minute before halftime, we were still by far and away the better team in the game. It took a little while to open them up but don’t forget they’re down there fighting for their lives, so if people think that 5-0 was an easy game, it’s never an easy game and they made it difficult. We just happened to take our chances on the night.”
On Marko Marosi being two clean sheets away from equalling the highest number of clean sheets Shrewsbury Town have kept in one League One season:
“It is [a nice accolade to work towards], we’ve got a few tough games but if he can get that then we’d be delighted. Clean sheets are always important, even when you go and win a game like the other night, the one thing you don’t want to do is concede a goal because then it looks like you’ve stepped off the pedal.”
