Gavin Cowan calls for Shrewsbury to turn dominant displays into victories

Gavin Cowan rued Shrewsbury’s failure to turn domination at Crewe into victory.

Cowan’s side took their first away point of the campaign after George Lloyd pounced on a defensive error before half-time to cancel out Jordan Gibson’s headed finish for Crewe.

But Cowan – who was forced into changes to his starting XI – felt the Shrews had sufficient opportunity to inflict a first loss of the campaign on the Railwaymen, although a controversial refereeing decision in stoppage time saved his side from defeat.

Crewe substitute Calum Agius was ruled offside when he fired in off a post.

“I feel it should have been three points,” Cowan said. “When you have 21 shots and total domination of the game then you should win the game. I was really pleased with the performance, our press was excellent and we showed bravery to get on the ball.

“We lost three lads in training on Friday, but all credit to the lads who came in.

“We spent the first 23 minutes in Crewe’s half and they had an attack and score. We were disappointed with that, but we have to be resilient and we deserved to get back into the game.

“George Lloyd is a real team player and I was pleased for him as he played the line brilliantly. That (goal) is a great start for him and hopefully he can now go on a run.

“I’m not sure the officials helped either team. We might have got away with one at the end, but the truth is we should have been out of sight by then – we need to be more ruthless in the box.”

Gibson headed home Joel Tabiner’s cross for his first Crewe goal since a summer move from Doncaster. It came against the run of play and Lee Bell’s side failed to capitalise.

Shoddy defending allowed Lloyd to fire Shrewsbury level in the 39th minute. Crewe goalkeeper Tom Booth failed to reach Lewis Billington’s headed backpass and Lloyd was alert to the opportunity and nipped in to score.

The visitors continued to exert their grip on the contest in the second half, although they needed two good saves from Will Brook, who denied Gibson a second from a well-struck free-kick and then later blocked an angled drive from Luke Offord.

Shrewsbury were let down by their final ball despite swarming over their hosts. They went closest from a long free-kick which saw Isaac Fletcher send a header against the far post.

Agius celebrated his finish in the fourth minute of added time but a flag was raised for offside, leaving Crewe to settle for their fifth successive draw.

Boss Bell said: “We couldn’t get going and it was the poorest we’ve been this season. Shrewsbury were a physical team and we didn’t really match that physicality.

“Lewis Billington hasn’t made many mistakes for us, but we had to regroup. We were pleased to come away with a point in the end as Shrewsbury were better than us.

“Jordan was in the right place at the right time and we’ve got to keep getting him into those areas. But we didn’t get into the final third enough and we need to improve.

“There were a couple of poor decisions from the officials. One when they were through and then we’d thought we’d snatched it at the end – I think he (Agius) was onside. But we’ve got to be better with the ball.”