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'They told me' - Gareth Ainsworth opens up on Birmingham City confession as he makes respect claim
Gareth Ainsworth praised Shrewsbury Town for their “sensational” commitment after they upset the form book to beat promotion favourites Birmingham City 3-2 in his first game in charge of the League One strugglers.
The Shrews looked revitalised under Ainsworth, with Aaron Pierre, who played under the new manager at Wycombe, getting the first goal of his reign after half-an-hour, sweeping home from close range.
John Marquis and Tom Bloxham also found the back of the net after the Shrews had gone into the game having only scored once in five matches.
Blues pulled it back to 2-1 just before the break through a composed finish from Tomoki Iwata, while Jay Stansfield scored a late penalty, but the big-spending outfit suffered just their second loss of the season.
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“Some of the Birmingham players I know said when they came off that ‘your boys deserved that because they have given us one hell of a game’,” Ainsworth said.
“The players were committed. They went for every tackle, header and they never stopped running. It is not surprising that some of the players were going down injured and going off with tightness and they were knackered.
“To a man, the commitment that they showed today was sensational, it really was.
“I said to everyone they will come off that pitch with nothing left and I am proud to say that I was true to my word and the boys were sensational.
“I said in the week that we slightly changed formation for Birmingham as we have massive respect and they are a brilliant side.
“The result is almost a by-product of what we gave out there. The boys deserved the win.”
