Shrewsbury Town Head Coach Gavin Cowan got off the mark as Salop boss with a crucial victory over relegation rivals Barrow.
After a solid point against Barnet and a narrow defeat by Colchester United on Saturday, their meeting with the Cumbrian outfit offered Cowan a perfect chance to record his first three-point haul with the Shropshire side.
And early second-half goals from Anthony Scully and Luca Hoole made that a reality, despite Tyler Walker pulling a goal back for the visitors with 15 minutes remaining.
Shrewsbury Experience Winning Feeling
It has been a dismal couple of years for Shrewsbury. With the Gareth Ainsworth saga last season, Salop spent the second half of the season with relegation to League Two all but confirmed. And Michael Appleton’s time in charge was disastrous, leaving them with the genuine risk of relegation to the National League.
But this result eases such fears, leapfrogging Barrow in the fourth-tier standings to move five points clear of the drop zone. Salop’s season is far from finished just yet, but they can breathe a little easier ahead of further home matches against promotion-chasing sides Swindon Town and Notts County in the next week.
Understandably, new boss Cowan was particularly pleased with the three points, having shown signs of improvement already under his stewardship.
“All credit to the players. I thought they were magnificent from start to finish. The win was fully deserved.
“We’ve evolved. You’ll see that we were very defensive in the first game against Barnet. Saturday I felt like it was an excellent performance.
“The lads have just been brilliant. A complete buy-in from them. They’ve been really open-minded, open hearts, as we say to them.”
Barrow At Risk
It’s quite a contrasting mood at Barrow, who lost for the sixth successive match. It’s just one win in 16 matches for the Bluebirds, who haven’t experienced the so-called new-manager bounce. Paul Gallagher took charge of the Cumbrians at the start of 2026, but has yet to gain even a point from his first five matches in charge.
After winning the National League in 2020, they overcame near-scrapes with dropping back into the fifth-tier, before challenging the upper echelons of the League Two table. But the Bluebirds weren’t quite able to trouble the Play-Off places, and now they face an almighty battle to avoid dropping out of the EFL once more. A genuine six-pointer with bottom-side Harrogate Town in six days will likely be season-defining, with the gap standing at just three points at present.
If Barrow are going to remain in this division for a seventh successive season, it is imperative they get something from that fixture against the Sulphurites.
