Shrewsbury Town boss makes brutally honest Sheffield Wednesday admission in promotion comment

That’s the view of Shrews manager Steve Cotterill, who speaking after the Owls recorded a confident 3-0 win at New Meadow was philosophical over his players’ effort in what has been a gruelling fortnight for the Shropshire side.

A Michael Smith hat-trick did the business for Wednesday, who welcomed back Michael Ihiekwe to a starring role at the heart of defence.

Results elsewhere confirmed that with a game still to play – at home to Derby County on Saturday – the Owls will finish third and will take part in the play-offs.

A drop-off in form has seen Shrewsbury dip into the bottom half of the table.

“We always knew this would be a difficult game,” said Cotterill, a long-time friend of Owls boss Darren Moore.

“There was plenty of effort, which is what we get always, but we have come up against a squad that is full of quality – and that’s it.

“What they have got is a squad, and, when it’s late on in a game, you are thinking ‘I hope he doesn’t want to come on and be a bit lively after we’ve already been going for 70 minutes’.”

Wednesday need just one point next weekend to achieve a club-record points total – which thanks to the superior efforts of Plymouth Argyle and Ipswich Town will not be enough to achieve automatic promotion to League One.

“They are just a side full of quality, and that is why they are on 90-plus points, which is normally enough to go up automatically,” Cotterill said.

“We haven’t got that quality, but the lads have tried and tried and tried and I certainly can’t fault them.

“We did give away a couple of poor goals, and they also showed their character, getting in four great blocks in the first half.

“Sometimes you can stand there and it doesn’t matter what you do, and what you change to, they just find a way on the pitch.

“The bottom line is they are a team that are just too good for us.”

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