Gaffer reflects on FA Cup victory
Shrewsbury Town manager Paul Hurst was pleased with his sides’ professional performance as they reached the third round of the Emirates FA Cup.
Two goals in three minutes from Alex Rodman and Shaun Whalley were enough to see off League Two Morecambe.
“I’m pleased that we are in the third round because that’s the objective realistically for League One and Two clubs and it opens up some exciting possibilities”, Paul said.
“The performance was okay in bits, average in others, but I think we were relatively comfortable for most of the afternoon.
“We started well for 7 or 8 minutes and then we came off it a little bit and they started to pass the ball, gained a bit of confidence and that’s something we talked about not letting the opposition do.
“But, a few moments of quality have won us the game and overall I’m pleased enough without being delighted.”
Shaun Whalley was one of Town’s standout performers, scoring one and assisting the other and Paul was pleased with his contribution.
“I said to him at half-time that he looked like he wanted to pass the ball a bit earlier and I think he agreed”, said Hurst.
“But, when he’s run at his full-back he’s put in one great ball where everyone’s watched it go across the goal and then the second time we’ve got Alex attacking the back post and he got his goal and got us in front.
“We know what a threat Shaun can be when he’s running at defenders and it’s about picking the right moments. I think today, early on, he maybe didn’t choose to run at the opposition when it was there too, but if that’s him on not his best day then he’s got an assist and looked a threat still.”
The third round draw will now take place on Monday night at 7pm and Paul admits he would like a smaller side in the next round in order to try and progress.
“Who would I like? I don’t know”, admitted Hurst.
“There’s two ways to look at it. Can we get one of the so-called lesser teams in the competition at home to try and give yourself a realistic chance of progressing further?
“Or, you go all in straight away and hope that you get a Premiership side away from home with as bigger crowd as possible. Tottenham wouldn’t be bad – something like that.
“But, I think I’d probably like another home tie against a team that we’ve got a realistic chance of beating and hope for that in the round after.”