Shrewsbury Town drew 1-1 at Abbey Stadium to Cambridge United in League One.
Taylor Perry was the player to find the net in the 88th minute, to grab a point away from home, and was in doubt whether he would feature in the match.
“It was touch and go earlier in the week. But I think what you see with Taylor is a player who gives 100 percent every time he is on the pitch. I thought he controlled the game really well as a number four,” Taylor said.
“Then when he went into the number 10 role when we took Tom (Bayliss) off, he popped up with a goal. What we want is complete midfielders at the football club – whether that is playing as an eight or playing as a four, six or 10.”
“Taylor is most definitely that. This is a big year for him, It’s his third season at this level. He now needs to produce regularly. He has been a consistent performer for us this season, all be it his numbers aren’t where he wants them to be.”
“He took his big moment today well. He was calm and what I liked was that we didn’t then sit back – the players wanted to go forward and wanted to try and get that winning goal and we very nearly did.”
Taylor’s feelings were mixed at full time but is hopeful for Salop in games to come.
“Am I pleased with a point? I’m pleased that we scored a goal so late in the game. I’m pleased that the players showed a togetherness to come back into a game where I felt a point was a fair result. But I’m still disappointed because of the goal we conceded. It is outrageous defending to be polite!”
“Look, there is growth in the group. When I look at the last three performances, I can see we are getting better. I felt we were better on the ball today. In those real moments when we were being pressed we moved the ball well. We took risks. We played out. We stood on the ball when we needed to. I felt we had good control.”
Despite a number of goal scoring opportunities, Taylor’s Town were held to 0-0 going into the halftime break.
“At nil-nil, I was slightly disappointed at half-time because I felt we had good enough opportunities – especially from set-plays. Whether that was a long throw or a ball into the box (we looked dangerous.)”
Shrewsbury Town faced some selection head scratches because of a number of absentees.
“We tried to find a way during the week – as a group of staff – to play within our structure, to play the way we want to whether that be in possession or out of possession.”
“We wanted to put players in positions where we feel they are comfortable receiving the ball and in areas where we feel we can get up the pitch.”
Taylor added “Brandon (Fleming) has never played central midfield in his life. He has never played as an eight but I thought he did really well today. He was combative, he gives you everything you ask. He had a calmness when he was on the ball to make decisions, he played forwards.”
“Mal (Benning) got his first start in a few weeks. He performed well. We made some changes in the game with Brandon moving back out onto the left.”
“Ryan Bowman came off the bench and made a real impact. I felt today he looked physically strong. We are most definitely pushing the limits of the players that we have available at the moment and we will continue to do that.”
“Then as and when we start to get players back from injury and the two boys return from international duty – it will make my job really difficult because I’ve got to pick a team that can try and get a result against a Derby team that I’m sure will want to come to our stadium and get three points.”
Shrewsbury Town host 9th place Derby County who haven’t lost in five games.
