Plan man Ricketts is a Shrews operator

SHREWSBURY boss Sam Ricketts felt his side carried out his gameplan perfectly in their draw at Rotherham.

The visitors largely looked to break on the Millers and ate up plenty of time as they nabbed a point to stay above their opponents in the table.

Ricketts said: “It’s a good point. It was an excellent team performance.

“We had a gameplan which was very evident as the game went on. We frustrated Rotherham into shooting from longer.

“I think our goalkeeper had one save to make. We were there to break and cause problems. There was only one save of note, which sums up the level of performance from the players.

“I thought it was a top performance from the players to come away against a side who were in the Championship last year.

“I am pleased with the point, although we wanted three, and on another day we could have got all three.”

Freddie Ladapo forced Shrewsbury keeper Max O’Leary into an early diving save with a shot from the edge of the box.

A Rotherham penalty shout was turned away after Carlton Morris went down too easily in the box. The visitors’ first effort on goal was kept out by Daniel Iversen after Ryan Giles had dribbled across the box before shooting.

It took until after the hour mark in the second half for any real quality to materialise, but Millers in-form winger Jake Hastie’s shot was easily dealt with by O’Leary.

Morris had the best chance to score the winner, but he poked wide from close-range from Ben Wiles’s knockdown.

Rotherham manager Paul Warne was disappointed his side failed to produce the quality to make the breakthrough.

He said his side need to find a way through teams happy to come for a point. He said: “We’ve got to get used to it. They’re above us in the league but they were happy to take a point.

“Collectively as staff, players and fans we are going to have to get better at it because we get frustrated and make rash decisions.

“Every time we got it they got everyone behind the ball and we found it difficult to break them down. It’s their prerogative, but you need to have a bit of brilliance.

“We didn’t have that spark.”