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Interviews

Pre Portsmouth | Steve Cotterill

27 October 2022

Manager Steve Cotterill met with the media ahead of our League One clash at Portsmouth.

Shrewsbury travel to Fratton Park just a few days after making the long trip to Plymouth - with Town hugely unfortunate not to get a result against the league leaders.

Now, though, we're on the road again with the gaffer set to face the club he was appointed manager of in 2010.

Speaking ahead of the game, the boss was quizzed on his side's display at Home Park as well as his preparations for the Portsmouth match.

And he was also asked about forward Rob Street - who made his second league start of the campaign against the Pilgrims.

ON THE PLYMOUTH GAME: 

"It was a really, really, encouraging performance. I thought we were really good down there, really good. 

"But you have got to be really good in the next game and then in the game after that to go and get results. 

"Had we played like that against Charlton – we would have won that game.  My disappointment at the moment has only been the Charlton performance, certainly the first 60 minutes against them.

"But you are going to have those ups and down over the course of a season.  

"The memory at the moment is of a really good team performance the other night – and certainly we did not deserve to get beat. 

"That can happen, though. Maybe somewhere along the line we will get three points that we haven’t deserved to get. The season is long, it’s hard and we have to be mentally tough."

ON PREPARATIONS FOR PORTSMOUTH WITH THE AMOUNT OF TRAVELLING:

"They are very light.  We will finish our preparations for Portsmouth tomorrow but they have obviously been light. 

"That is where we are with it – until you have been in the situation we are in this week, you have got to be in it to appreciate what’s got to be done. 

"I would imagine there will be more done in a meeting room than actually out on a training pitch."

ON PLAYING IN FRONT OF A BIG CROWD AT FRATTON PARK:

"That is nothing new now when you look at some of the teams in the league. 

"There are some huge clubs in League One now, clubs that probably don’t think they are League One clubs – Portsmouth will be one of them. 

"Portsmouth are not a League One club, minimum they are a Championship club and they had some good years in the Premier League as well. 

"It's an incredibly tough league with some big clubs in it. But that’s good, it’s good to be part of that."

ON PORTSMOUTH'S STRENGTHS:

"It will be a difficult challenge, just like Plymouth. Any side that is up there, I think they have had a great start to the season and we know it will be a difficult game. 

"But if we can perform to the same levels we performed at the other night then it will be a good game to be at."

ON HIS MEMORIES IN CHARGE OF PORTSMOUTH:

"I had some really awkward moments to deal with. Administration, administration and administration.

"But it’s a great club, there are some great people who work there and I’m really looking forward to seeing them at the weekend. Lovely people. 

"The fan base is fantastic. John Westwood, the guy you always see with the bell, he is a great guy. I met him a few times. 

"We had great support wherever we went, through some really troubling times. It’s a fantastic club and I’m looking forward to going back."

ON ROB STREET:

"I thought he was a little bit unlucky with the header that hit the bar against Plymouth. I thought he showed great energy alongside Christian Saydee who had been a little bit under the weather last week. 

"That is why he came off so early in the game. He had a chest infection last week, I think there is a fair bit of it going around. 

"He couldn’t get around the pitch as much as we would have liked him to have done. But hopefully, that will benefit him on Saturday. 

"We have to wait and see where we are with him. But I think he’ll be better fitness-wise on Saturday than he was going into the game the other night. We seem to have a bug around the camp at the moment, but hopefully he’ll be fine."

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