Omar Beckles had an afternoon to forget in Shrewsbury Town’s 3-0 defeat to Fleetwood on Saturday, but he was quick to front up and offer an honest appraisal of his performance after the match as reported by the Shropshire Star.
The Shrews started the game well and looked in control for the first thirty minutes, but a Callum Lang own goal seemed to knock the stuffing out of Sam Ricketts’ side, something not lost on the experienced defender when commenting on the team’s performance and his contribution to the lacklustre display.
Speaking to the local paper, he said: ‘Physically I don’t feel too bad. I’m just very, very disappointed in my own performance. Obviously earlier on it was a comfortable game but the second half wasn’t the kind of performance that I want to associate with myself,’ before adding, ‘It felt like we didn’t respond. It felt like we folded a little and it’s not like us, it’s disappointing. We need to make sure it doesn’t happen again.’
Joey Barton’s men sealed the victory with second-half goals from Madden and Morris to move them up to third in the table. Salop meanwhile remain firmly anchored in mid-table after their first home reverse of the season and their first defeat in three games.
Beckles and his teammates have the chance to make amends for the limp display when they visit Tranmere Rovers at the weekend, and he vowed the group would continue to learn and improve. He said: ‘It’s not what we wanted, but I’m pretty sure that we can learn from this experience. I’d rather do it now than later in the season. We can build a run.’
Our View
Beckles has improved leaps and bounds since arriving from Accrington Stanley in 2017, and after over seventy league outings for Salop, his honest admission shows the confidence he now feels in his standing at the club.
He and the team had a poor game, but fans respect honesty rather than excuses.
Despite the poor showing, the Shrews have had a solid if unspectacular start, but there are definitely positives and something to build on in Shropshire for Sam Ricketts and his squad.
