Shaw relieved to banish Woking memories

Experienced striker Jon Shaw was glad to put the memory of Woking to bed as Town romped to a 6-1 victory over Barrow on Tuesday night, writes Mark Wood.

Shaw missed a gilt-edged chance to put the Hatters 2-1 up in that game, before handing Woking the chance for their second goal as the Cards claimed a surprise 3-1 victory on New Year’s Day.

He admitted: “It was probably the worst five minutes for me in the season. I’ve met the header exactly how I wanted to, I’ve put it pretty much exactly how I wanted to.

“The keeper’s jumped out, (Peter) Schmeichel starfish-style, says it hits him on the thigh, hits the underside of the bar and comes out.

“Nine times out of 10 it goes in. So I’m not going to beat myself up too much. But from a professional point of view, to lose the ball in the middle of the park on a pitch like that and for them to go and score it does hurt.

“You do see yourself as quite responsible for part of the defeat. Games like that fade into the distance when you go on a big run of games and score goals. So hopefully we’ve put that to bed tonight.”

But he admitted his mistake had been laid bare to him by boss Paul Buckle in the aftermath of that defeat.

Shaw continued: “We came in and we were all honest with each other. I’m a big boy and I can take things like that when I’ve made mistakes, especially when they’re glaring ones.

“And what I would class as silly mistakes for someone who has played the games that I’ve played.

“I can stand here and take that and, yeah, he weren’t happy. But at the same time he’s the kind of manager that tells you what he expects, tells you what you’ve done wrong, moves on, pats you on the back and says, ‘but you’ve been fantastic and you’ll continue to be, that’s why you’re at the club’.

“Nobody is going to be perfect, but at the same time we’re all here to back each other up.”

Shaw’s form hasn’t been helped by being played on the right of a front three in recent weeks.

But he’s been more than happy to play there for the team, although reverting him to a central role alongside Andre Gray has paid massive dividends in Town’s last two games.

He added: “I’ve always been of the opinion that if the manager’s playing you you’re doing your job.

“And if I can do a job for the team, Saturday, even though I played up front for pretty much the first half, I felt second half I sat a little bit deeper. You can’t play every game where you want to play. If you want to be successful as a team you have work hard for each other.

“I’ve had to play a little bit out of position because the squad probably needed a tweak here and there, and the gaffer’s doing that.

“He’s changing people here and there, put me back up front, and yeah I’m happy to be back there now. At the same time if he needs me to go out wide, if he needs me to play right-back or centre-half, I’m willing to do it.”

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