Gaffer reflects on Abu Ogogo's four-game suspension
Shrewsbury Town boss Paul Hurst has urged his squad to cope with the loss of Captain Abu Ogogo when they take on AFC Wimbledon on Saturday.
Ogogo will be serving the first game of his four match ban on Saturday after his altercation with John-Joe O’Toole at Northampton Town on Tuesday night.
“It’s a big blow to us”, Paul said.
“I’m not going to and dress it up in any other way than him being a big miss to us. He’s our Captain, I think every time he’s been fit and available he’s been in the team and he leads by example for us.
“I’m not sure on the decision itself. It’s a very difficult one because how it ends up means there is no chance it will get overturned, but there’s no doubt that there’s no reason for their player to get involved with Abs in the first place and then once he is I don’t think anyone with a competitive bone in them is going to have any other reaction than what happened.
“It wasn’t him that instigated going to ground and I have to say that it’s something we need to think about because I could intentionally send a player out and tell them to do that to one of the oppositions players if you are willing to sacrifice one of your own.
“From my point of view there will be no fine for Abs or anything like that. I’m happy, from what I’ve seen, that I don’t think he could have done too much more to be honest.”
Abu Ogogo is joined on the side-lines by the injured duo of Ben Godfrey and James Bolton, whilst Dean Henderson also misses Saturday’s game through international duty. Hurst has called on others to step up and make the difference.
“That’s down to myself and Doigy to have a look at it and see what way is best to go now - whether it’s a change of system or whether it’s different personnel”, said Paul.
“It’s obviously compounded by the fact that Ben (Godfrey) came off injured last Saturday, so it feels like a few things are going against us, but I’ve enjoyed the mantra of proving people wrong throughout the season and the squads managed to do that.
“It will be someone else’s turn to step up, whether that’s one person for a few games or whether changes occur, but we’re not going to sulk about it. I’m not going to say that I wouldn’t rather have Abs in the team because of course I would, but it’s happened and we move on from it.”