Greg Docherty: Truths were shared in the Shrewsbury dressing room
Town midfielder Greg Docherty revealed 'truths' were openly shared in the Shrewsbury dressing room after the deflating defeat against Oxford.
Sam Ricketts' Salop surrendered a 2-1 lead against the 10 men of Oxford and handed three points to their visitors that would have mathematically secured their safety owing to a superior goal difference.
Gavin Whyte's hat-trick overturned Ollie Norburn's penalty and Docherty's strike - his 10th goal of the season - while the U's were reduced to 10 men with Ahmed Kashi's dismissal.
Both Docherty and Ricketts explained that opinions were aired in a frank discussion at full-time.
The Scot said: "It was quiet but a few truths were spoke. It needed to be done.
"We aired (opinions) a little bit but it's almost like speechless because everyone knows where it went wrong.
"This was a huge opportunity and we've let ourselves down massively."
Ricketts said he opened the floor to the players' to give their reasonings behind the capitulation.
"The players were very, very down and were very honest with their own opinions," said the Town boss, whose side are now 16th with a four points buffer to the bottom four.
"So I asked them their own opinions at the end, they were very honest with themselves. It wasn't lack of effort or desire.
"You gauge the sense of players and room. No players want to make mistakes. Effort and application was there, but there was disappointment.
"That's good, be disappointed, because we let a lot of people down."
Docherty put Town 2-1 up against the U's depleted numbers five minutes before the break, with most expecting the hosts to go on and win comfortably.
It brought up double figures for the Rangers star who had not netted in eight games.
But the milestone meant nothing to Docherty after the loss. He added: "It means nothing at the moment, until we're over the line I want touch on my performances.
"We need win as a team, if I can contribute great but ultimately it wasn't enough and we shot ourselves in the foot.
"Everybody knows that, everyone's extremely disappointed, particularly for the fans. Bank Holiday, there was a very good feelgood factor."
