Gaffer looks back on Port Vale victory
Shrewsbury Town boss Paul Hurst was pleased to get through to the last-16 of the Checkatrade Trophy.
Town won 2-1 against Port Vale after coming from behind thanks to goals from Louis Dodds and Shaun Whalley.
“It was hard earned”, Paul told the Press.
“We made it difficult for ourselves by not performing first-half and getting off to a dreadful start and then second half we were better and we were on top.
“You just wonder if that goal’s going to come and it did with Louis, a very calm finish, and then eventually we got the winner, but I’m not sure if it was Lenell John-Lewis or Shaun Whalley who got the goal.”
Paul had reiterated the importance of this competition in the build-up to tonight’s game, but he was worried that message hadn’t seemed to get through.
“I’m not particularly happy with how we played overall”, Hurst admitted.
“I keep banging my head against a brick wall to try and stress the importance of the game and of every opportunity that they are given and that wasn’t good enough first-half by a long shot and I’m looking for much better from my team.”
Lenell John-Lewis had a good impact when he came on and was involved with both goals. Hurst was pleased with his performance, but was unhappy with how Town started.
“We know what he can do”, Paul said of John-Lewis.
“His physical presence caused them more problems than what we’d had previously, but I think it shows that we can’t start a game like we did.
“We were moaning about the ball, which sounded flat from the kick-off, but that’s no excuse for why we conceded the goal that we did.
“We were on the back foot, no urgency and as soon as you go a goal behind you are making life a lot harder.
“They got men behind the ball as you would expect and for large parts, certainly first-half, it didn’t look like we were going to get a way back into the game.”