Appleton left disappointed after defeat at Shrewsbury
United Head Coach Michael Appleton was left counting the cost as United paid the price for conceding a scrappy opening goal at Greenhous Meadow on Saturday.
After a fairly even opening 20 minutes, Shrewsbury took the lead when Simon Eastwood could only palm a long-range shot onto the crossbar, with AJ Leitch-Smith scrambling the ball home in the ensuing melee.
"We conceded a poor goal from our point of view," Appleton told Yellow Player HD. "There were things leading up to the goal that were a little bit disappointing and the referee could have done a bit better but you’re always climbing a mountain if you concede that first goal. If they smash one in from 30 or 40 yards you can take it on the chin and rebuild and crack on but to concede the way we did was disappointing."
United improved after the break but were unable to score past Mark Halstead, who was in excellent form: "You’d expect us to be better in the second half. With the chances we created if one would have gone in you’d have backed us to go on and win the game. For whatever reason it just wasn’t going to be our day.
"The next two home games are huge games. We’re coming up against a side that’s in decent form and they obviously beat us recently, so there’s an opportunity to put that right and hopefully next week we do."
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