Gaffer talks after the win at The Den
Shrewsbury Town Manager Paul Hurst talked of his delight after Town’s spirited display against Millwall.Town took the lead through Louis Dodds on 17 minutes after some good interplay between Dodds and Ivan Toney and they then had Jayson Leutwiler to thank as Town kept their third clean sheet in a row to take the victory.
Hurst praised his players’ desire after the game and hopes this can be a turning point in Town’s season.
“Second half we had to withstand a lot of pressure and with the way that they play, very direct, you worry that you might just succumb to that in the end, but I have to say that I thought there was some excellent defending,” Hurst told the Press.
“Jayson’s made some good saves. Particularly in the first half where I thought he made two or three very good saves, but first half I thought we played well and overall I’m delighted with the performance, the efforts of the players and it’s a very hard earned three points.”
“With the position we are in we haven’t done anything yet, but you still have to enjoy the moments that you get and apart from that one Fleetwood game I can’t have too many issues with the players.
“There’s things we want to do better and there’s things I’d like us to get better at, but overall they’re giving me everything and I think that showed today.
“We felt we could come here and get a result and you’re never quite sure, but there was a good feeling in the dressing room before the game.”
Whilst Town rode their luck at times in the second half, Saturday’s victory was the 6th clean sheet in 9 games since Paul Hurst took charge and he put it down to hard work.
“Once we got in front we looked to get that second goal and we had a couple of attacks second half where they got good blocks in, but a lot of that second half was played in our defensive half and there was some very good defending,” Paul said.
“Chris did some defensive work with them in terms of shuffling across as a back four and when we did our shape on Thursday we spoke about the importance of getting men behind the ball.
“Today we wanted to try and stop as many balls in the box and long diagonal balls from the back when possible and I thought we did that quite well at times.
“Overall, it’s hard work. If you are willing to run and make it difficult for your opponents, you have a better chance of keeping the ball out of the net.”
Over 250 Town fans made the trip to South London and Hurst praised the travelling Salopians for their backing.
“I was pleasantly surprised by how many supporters were here. It’s a long journey down considering our current plight, but it’s nice to reward them with a victory,” said Hurst.
“They were nice and noisy throughout the game and I hope they are really happy, as we all are, to get a victory today.
“We’ve got to try and concentrate on picking up points and we are doing that. I know there was a bit made about not scoring, but for me there’s progression here. Would I want it to be quicker? Yes, because I’m greedy, but at the same time we’re proving hard to beat.
“I know that we’ve got players at the top end of the pitch with quality and today we’ve done both and won the game.”