Shrewsbury Town travelled to Bristol Rovers on Saturday and a 2–1 defeat was the least of their worries.

A club statement released on Monday revealed that manager, Steve Cotterill, had been readmitted to hospital with Covid–pneumonia just a fortnight after his discharge from coronavirus.

Town’s boss spent a month in hospital including five days in ICU but this latest news is a real setback.

Cotterill’s assistant Aaron Wilbraham revealed that the 56-year-old Shrews manager had been ill since the middle of last week with his breathing and coughing leading to his return to the ward.

Back on the pitch and Crewe Alexandra were well on course to collect six points from their home games against Accrington Stanley and Sunderland at Gresty Road.

Alex had already seen off the midweek challenge of Stanley and by half-time against the Black Cats they had already matched that 2–0 scoreline.

But two wonder strikes in the last quarter of an hour – the second of which arrived seven minutes into stoppage time – cost Crewe two well deserved points against Lee Johnson’s men.

Wrexham’s run of good form continued with a resounding 4–1 win against Wealdstone at the Racecourse in the National League.

The players have been offered a significant bonus for getting the club back into the football league.

A quarter of £1 million has been put into the pot by new owners, Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney as an incentive to realise promotion back to the English Football League for the first time since 2008.

Wrexham went to Barnet last night and travel to Sutton United at the weekend.

Crewe also have two away games with a trip to Blackpool last night before heading to Lincoln on Saturday.

Shrewsbury Town, meanwhile, have the luxury of back-to-back home games against AFC Wimbledon and Fleetwood with Wilbraham continuing in the dugout due to Cotterill’s enforced absence.