Soccer
Peter Cklamovski hails his Salford players despite Carabao Cup shoot-out loss
Peter Cklamovski was full of praise for his Salford players despite their narrow 4-3 penalty shoot-out loss to Shrewsbury in the Carabao Cup first round.
Shrewsbury took the lead three minutes after half-time when Josh Davison capitalised on slack defending to fire home.
After Salop defender Sam Stubbs had been shown a second yellow card for a foul on Ryan Graydon, the Ammies drew level through Kyrell Malcolm’s 77th-minute equaliser before Will Aimson saw red for Salford.
Salford goalkeeper Will Norris and Shrewsbury shot-stopper Will Brook then starred in a remarkable penalty shoot-out that saw nine spot-kicks missed.
It was won by Arkell Jude-Boyd, who rifled the ball into the top corner from 12 yards after Ollie Turton’s spot-kick cannoned off a post.
After the helter-skelter match, Cklamovski downplayed the effect defeat in the first competitive game of the season would have.
He said: “The goal we conceded was a soft one to give away, but mistakes happen and we responded as a team in a really powerful way.
“We could have won that game a couple of times in the second half and I’m so proud of the way the boys pushed until the end.
“Both keepers made four saves each, so fair play to them. That is the cut-throat reality of penalty shoot-outs.
“We will reflect on it, take the hurt, take it as medicine and keep building our football from there.”
Shrewsbury boss Gavin Cowan was delighted with his team’s “cool, calm, calculated and cold” performance.
He said: “I thought we defended excellently and created chances and looked really fluid moving forward.
“I would not have been happy today to lose that penalty shoot-out. We want to win football matches.
“Today, we’ve set a standard against what is clearly one of the best teams in the league.”
