Shropshire Star

We have let the manager down, says Shrewsbury's Dave Edwards

Dave Edwards feels Shrewsbury Town’s players have let down Sam Ricketts and his management staff on several occasions this season.

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The midfielder, standing in as Town captain with Ollie Norburn sidelined with injury for the rest of the campaign, admitted the squad should take the blame for a number of below-par displays since the new year.

Ricketts took flack from supporters during his side’s on a 10-match winless run in League One either side of FA Cup excursions but has since secured two crucial wins in three games.

The Welsh boss has said he will learn from the challenging period and evaluate what he would do better, but his former Wolves and Wales team-mate Edwards says the players must take responsibility.

“The staff and the manager tend to always get more stick because they’re at the head of things,” said Edwards, 34.

“As players we’re the ones who go out on the pitch and have to perform.

“There’s been so many times this year that we feel as players we’ve let the management team down by not performing as well as what we can do.

“That run of 10 games, a lot was down to how we were performing and not necessarily what we were doing in training and the game plans going into games.”

Edwards netted a priceless late Montgomery Waters Meadow winner against Doncaster two Saturdays ago to end the barren run before making a point of celebrating with Town’s management staff.

Shrewsbury followed up that win with a disappointing last-gasp defeat against Tranmere four days late having fought back from a two-goal deficit.

But Daniel Udoh netted the crucial goal at Bristol Rovers last weekend in another important 1-0 victory to lift Town to 15th ahead of Saturday’s visit of in-form Oxford.

Edwards, who netted his first league goal since returning to the club 14 months previously, said: “Doncaster felt like such a huge game, like the pressure was really on us.

“If anybody scored there would be that emotion and rush from that goal would’ve been exactly the same.

“But (for me) to get it was extra special, I wanted to show the togetherness we have in the club to celebrate all as one.

“It wasn’t just a thing for the manager, it was to show the staff and everyone as a group of players are all still together.

“That’s why it was so nice to get the win, it felt like a big release of emotion and pressure because it was so big and only right to celebrate as a club.”