All About Shane Lowry

When a player signs for Aston Villa and then comes knocking on the door at St Andrews I normally have a deep hatred. However, Lowry didn’t make an appearance for our neighbours and therefore I can regard him as one of our own. Despite making the same amount of appearances for Birmingham City, 0.

At 26 year old, he looks more like a 2-6 year old with his charming baby face. However, the 6 foot 1 inch player is certainly no push over on the pitch. He has the frame to cause some trouble for the opposition especially when challenging in the air; a skill which he is very good at.

Also, despite not looking particularly quick, he has both the pace and awareness to beat wingers to through balls. A definite plus point for any defender. Especially as a full back. And considering we have a shortage of lively looking full backs, surely it is only a matter of time for Rowett to give him the nod.

Lowry does have a tendency to strop a bit though. When his teams are losing, he tends to get annoyed and give away fouls. This is shown on a broader scale, when Orient got relegated he insisted on a move, rather than trying to help the club gain promotion the following year. This kind of attitude is not professional or endearing. However, I thought the same of Gleeson and his attitude has drastically changed under Rowett so Lowry may have been man managed to cope with these situations better.

In terms of technical ability, he is sound. He doesn’t do anything particularly fancy but then again, I wouldn’t want a defender to do that. He puts a tackle in, he works hard and he plays the simple pass. This is what is expected of a defender but so often they fail to adhere to the script.

The only concern is lack of match time. Obviously with matches comes sharpness and increased anticipation. Without a regular run in a high quality team, Lowry is unlikely to be ready. But maybe he is, only Rowett will know.