Best yet for Shrewsbury boss John Askey

Posted Wednesday, October 24, 2018 by PA

John Askey felt Shrewsbury delivered their best performance of the season as they beat Barnsley 3-1.

First-half goals from midfielders Greg Docherty and Ollie Norburn paved the way for Shrewsbury’s third Sky Bet League One victory since Askey was appointed manager in the summer.

Ethan Pinnock reduced the arrears for Barnsley early in the second half but Luke Waterfall restored Shrewsbury’s two-goal advantage before visiting manager Daniel Stendel was sent to the stand in the closing stages as emotions started to run high on the touchline.

Askey said: “It was probably our best performance just from sheer attitude really.

“I thought the work-rate was what we’re after, closing down, and obviously that gave us the platform to play as well as we did.

“We came in at half-time and we probably should have scored more goals really, that was the only disappointment, but it’s what I needed and that’s what the club needed and you can’t ask any more of the players than that.”

Askey was encouraged with Town’s performance level against a Barnsley side he expects to be challenging this season.

“They’re a good team,” he stressed. “They’ve done really well up until Saturday and today, but they will be up there come the end of the season.

“If we can compete against teams like that then there’s no reason why we can’t start looking to progress up the table.”

Docherty, on loan from Rangers, fired Shrewsbury in front as early as the second minute before Norburn’s deflected drive doubled the advantage.

Pinnock pulled one back for Barnsley from close range four minutes into the second half before Waterfall headed in Docherty’s corner for a third Shrewsbury goal in the 68th minute.

That was the pivotal moment for Barnsley assistant manager Andreas Winkler, who had hoped his team could hit back after scoring so soon after the interval.

“At this moment really, I believed in the team because I know what they can do,” said Winkler.

“It was in a perfect moment, five minutes after half-time, and then you have 40 minutes to go for a goal or maybe two.

“Very disappointed after, a set piece to the far post. They win the header and then they go on. We can make them a little bit nervous and bring our style to them.”

Winkler added: “I don’t think we had a good start and the opponents tried to bring us out of our plan – very hard duels, direct play and this day we were not able enough. It was really not a good performance to fight back.”

On the late red card shown to boss Stendel, Winkler said: “I think it’s not a good idea to comment now. We want to watch the footage and then the club will say something.”