Shrewsbury Town boss Steve Cotterill and goalscorer Shaun Whalley both heaped praise on Ipswich Town after the sides played out a 1-1 draw yesterday.

Town took an early lead through James Norwood, but were pegged back by a superb long-range strike from Whalley after Cameron Burgess had seen red late on.

And Cotterill said: “The first five minutes weren’t very good but then it became an even game in the first half. I thought they were excellent, they played with a good tempo and I thought they deserved the lead and that took the wind out of our sails a little bit.

East Anglian Daily Times: Shrewsbury team manager Steve Cotterill pictured after the gameShrewsbury team manager Steve Cotterill pictured after the game (Image: Steve Waller)

"We worked our way back into the game in the first half and it was important that we didn’t concede another before half-time because that probably would’ve been the game done then, but I think it was a pretty equal game in the first half.

"In the second half, we changed shape slightly and we couldn’t get enough pressure on the ball so we made a change.

"Shaun’s very good at landing on second balls and there were a few times where we played a ball forward too long too early when we didn’t need to do that, but it had become one of those games and Shaun can do that, he can land on second balls and thankfully he landed on that one today and it was a brilliant finish."

Of his strike, Whalley added: "I think it is (the best goal I’ve scored for Shrewsbury) just because of the season I’ve had; I think the feeling was better.

"It was just one of those things where it sat up perfectly for me, and obviously it’s gone in and it’s an indescribable feeling.

“It was exactly like that (I just thought I’d hit it), the ball was up with (Ryan) Bowman and one of their defenders and I think Thompson headed it down and yeah, it was perfect for me to just strike through the ball and fortunately it went in and it was a great feeling.

"It was just crazy; crazy things are going on in my head and I’ve gone over to the fans who have always been really supportive of me and they’ve given me a bit of a lift so it was nice to celebrate with them.”

Of the game, he added: "We were just trying to get back in the game and I thought we pushed for the winner but a few ricochets didn’t go our way in the box and I thought we could’ve nicked it in the end.

"However, a point was probably fair because I thought Ipswich were incredible today.”