Former Portsmouth, West Ham and Burnley midfielder, Matt Taylor spoke about his delight for Max Mata and Morgan Feeney’s return to the side.
During the summer transfer window, Salop signed a whopping 14 players, with the majority either joining on loan or a free transfer.
However, New Zealand international and former Sligo Rovers star Mata joined the club for an undisclosed fee.
Due to this, the 23-year-old arrived with high expectations as the League One side splashed out on the striker.
Despite impressing fans with his work rate and general contribution, Mata hadn’t scored in his first 12 games.
However, on Saturday, he opened his goal scoring account and boss Taylor was delighted:
“I’m over the moon for Max Mata to get his goal – which was long overdue.
“Hopefully now what that does is give him the opportunity to kick on and get more goals and do what he was brought to the club for. I thought today he was really good.”
He added:
“It was a wonderful spot from Elliott Bennett.
“He shouted at Jordan Shipley or Morgan Feeney to get out of the way. He then hits a 60-yard diagonal pass.
“There’s then a brilliant cross and Max is where he should be – between the posts. And he puts the ball in the goal.
“It’s a wonderful moment for him.”
Centre back Morgan Feeney also returned to action for Shrews after missing nine games with a hamstring injury.
When playing, Town have only conceded 0.76 goals per 90, highlighting his importance to the club.
Speaking about Feeney, Taylor said:
“Morgan’s been out a long time but what you see with Morgan, Morgan is a really competitive, combative defender, he will go up against anybody.
“What he did today was he managed to get through a game of football.”
Furthermore, Tom Flanagan was withdrawn after he hurt his knee going into a challenge.
This takes Shrewsbury’s injury tally to nine players.
When asked about the extent of Flanagan’s injury, Taylor explained:
“Tom is in a knee brace. We are fearing the worst.
“And it just seems at the moment everything is going against us.
“We are picking up injuries that aren’t avoidable – they are contact injuries.
“It’s a really difficult time for us at the moment.”
He continued:
“Tom Flanagan won’t be available. He is quite emotional at the moment as you would imagine. It has been a difficult day for him.”
