Delighted Shrewsbury boss Steve Cotterill praised Ollie Norburn despite his penalty miss in a battling 1-0 win over Blackpool.

Town started as the better side, with Dan Kemp firing an effort straight at Matija Sarkic in the ninth minute, before Shaun Whalley fired wide on the turn.

Dan Udoh opened the scoring in the 38th minute after Sullay Kaikai brought down Whalley in the box. Udoh came to the rescue with a goal on the rebound after Norburn had his penalty saved.

Charlie Daniels was inches away from doubling the lead on the stroke of half-time with a fine free-kick.

Sarkic pulled off a fingertip save to turn Gary Madine’s header behind in the 68th minute, before Keshi Anderson headed over late on.

Cotterill said: “We were a bit indifferent but very good, very organised – we didn’t give them many looks at our goal or free opportunities.

“My only slight disappointment was that Ollie Norburn’s penalty didn’t go in because I thought he was absolutely outstanding tonight against a very good team by the way.

“Blackpool looked nice and fresh, with a strong bench having been together a little while, and Ollie Norburn 100 per cent was outstanding.

“He didn’t lose a tackle, a skirmish, he intercepted balls, he screened off (Gary) Madine excellently when they went direct.

”I just feel slightly sorry for him (for missing), I singled him out in the dressing room, I hope he didn’t get too embarrassed by it in front of his team-mates, because he’s a real humble lad.

“I said to him (Udoh) that for all his hard work he’s got to make sure he scores a goal.

“We conceded a penalty early in my time and we didn’t follow it in, everyone had given up on it, now we’ve followed it up against us at Wigan and tonight. One small thing they’ve absorbed.”

Blackpool boss Neil Critchley admitted his side had been off the pace.

“I thought we were flat in the first half. We lacked urgency in and out of possession,” he said.

“We started bright in the first 10 minutes, but they got on top of us and we were hesitant in everything we did.

“We improved in the second half, moved the ball better, but our quality let us down in forward areas.

“It was extremely disappointing. Shrewsbury have got a lot of 1-0 wins and when they score first they are difficult to break down.

“The 10-day break did not help us. It was a fear of mine, they have played twice since we last played and that showed in the first half.

“You could say it would leave us fresh but it’s not been a busy period of games and we have paid for it tonight.

“I had no complaints with the penalty, but we were second to the rebound and that summed us up tonight.”