Gareth Ainsworth – Shrewsbury Town are good enough to stay in League One

Shrewsbury Town boss Gareth Ainsworth believes his side can retain their League One status after their 2-1 win over Wrexham.

The hosts had not won a cross-border derby since April 2008, but victory meant the Shrews moved to within five points of safety.

Both teams found the back of the net inside the opening 25 minutes, with Shrewsbury breaking the deadlock through John Marquis, and six minutes later, Steven Fletcher found the leveller.

The hosts found the winner three minutes into the second half when Eoghan O’Connell brought down George Lloyd.

Marquis stepped up to the spot, but Arthur Okonkwo got his foot to the shot, but the forward tucked away the rebound.

‘Phenomenal Performance’

“It was absolutely phenomenal,” said Ainsworth.

“The way the week’s been, for those boys to go out there and put that performance in tells me we have every chance of staying in this league.

“It was a phenomenal shift from everybody, it was optimised by those front two as they never stopped working and never stopped running.

“John deserved both of his goals, and Lloyd deserved man of the match.

“They were absolutely brilliant, but they only do that because they know how solid they are behind them.

“The defenders were brilliant as well, and we had a plan in place, and it worked well.

“Wrexham had to change a couple of formations and we changed again to match them.

“All of the talk before the game was about if Wrexham won, they go top of the league; nobody said that if Shrewsbury win, they might go above Crawley.

“They have been super professional tonight.

“We put the plan in place and executed it, and the whole of Shrewsbury is happy tonight.”

Individual Mistakes for Wrexham

Wrexham boss Phil Parkinson said: “We spoke before the game to make sure the basics were in place tonight, and it costs us tonight, and two individual mistakes led to the goals.

“They harried us out of possession well, and they saw the game through well, but we didn’t really do enough to get back in it.

“We had a few half chances, but probably not enough, given the quality of players we have available to us.

“We know what this game meant to supporters tonight and it’s not often that we don’t perform to the level I expect.

“But tonight is one of those nights.

“We have to take criticism together firmly on the chin because it is deserved and come out responding with a week’s training ready for the Birmingham game.

“The ball just wouldn’t drop for us in and around the box, there were some really nearly moments for us to get back in the game, but it wasn’t to be.”

READ MORE: John Marquis brace helps struggling Shrewsbury upset high-flying Wrexham