Gaffer looks back on 1-0 win over Blackpool
Shrewsbury Town Manager Paul Hurst was pleased that his side got back to winning ways in League One.
Town hadn’t won in the league since mid-November but Jon Nolan’s second-half strike was enough to give Town a 1-0 win over Blackpool.
“I feel that maybe because it hasn’t gone as swimmingly well as how it started out, it’s almost as though a bit of pressure’s started”, said Paul.
“I said to the players that there’s no need to play like that because they’ve done extremely well. You need to remember to play and to relax to a degree. As long as the effort and commitment is there, which is clearly was, then after that you’ve got to relax.
“We hope in the future that there’s some really big massive games but there’s a long way to go before that and in the mean time we’ve got to try and enjoy the ride and not build everything up too much.
“Full credit to the players for the effort, the commitment and the work rate, but after that they needed to be better after a fairly bright start, but in the end it’s a massive three points for the players and it sets us up nicely for another home game against Portsmouth.”
Nolan’s left-footed strike was the difference between the two sides and Paul wishes he would attempt to do that more often.
“I’m always on at him to shoot more”, said Hurst.
“The amount of times he gets the ball and he’s looking to move it on rather than perhaps being a bit more selfish with it.
“First-half he had a shot where he didn’t quite get it out of his feet and knocked it quite a way over the bar, but on his left side he’s certainly better than just a swinger and with the service as well it picked up a bit of pace and thankfully found the back of the net.”
Hurst was particular pleased with his sides clean-sheet and he felt they got back to what made them successful earlier in the season.
“I think the game was limited to very few chances”, Paul continued.
“We haven’t been conceding many in truth but it just felt like it was a step back towards what we were doing earlier in the season. Certainly the work rate seemed up there and I would be interested to look at the stats after that.
“We said at half-time that it would be a battle of wills and the worst we should come away with would be a 0-0. The players have done one better than that and it’s a nice three points that keeps us in second.”