Boos no surprise to under-fire Shrewsbury boss John Askey

The FA Cup first round tie at Montgomery Waters Meadow ended in a stalemate after the sides swapped first half goals.

Boos rang around the stadium at full-time before chants of ‘f*** off Askey’ and ‘Askey out’.

Askey said: “It happens in football, doesn’t it? That’s what happens. Nothing comes as a surprise in football.” The Town boss referenced his side’s record in the last eight games but admitted he understood supporters were going to be vocal and make judgements.

He stressed that Salford, and their wealthy backing, are not the ‘usual’ non-League outfit.

But he blamed the media for ‘causing’ such a reaction from the crowd.

The manager added: “It’s a cup competition and we’re still in it.

“The only way you turn fans around is by winning games and getting up the league. It’s the same for every manager. In the last eight games we’ve won four, drawn one and lost three.

“Supporters are always going to be vocal. What they’ve got to understand is Salford is not the normal National League team.

“I’m not making any excuses, we should’ve won the game today but we haven’t.

“But we’ve got to go there and it makes it tougher for us. People will always have comments but it’s not up to me to judge whether they’re right or whatever.

“It’s my job to get on with it.”

He continued: “It’s the media that causes it in the first place, such as yourself, who has brought that about in the first place with reporting stuff.

“That doesn’t help myself, obviously, and it doesn’t help the players. The main thing is the players.

“And the players, whether they played bad, indifferent, whatever, worked their socks off. For me that’s the most important thing.”

Town face a quick turnaround and are back in action in the Checkatrade Trophy tomorrow at Crewe.

There are likely to be wholesale changes for the Gresty Road tie, where Shrews need a point to quality.