Gaffer looks ahead to first home Tuesday night game
Shrewsbury Town boss Paul Hurst is looking forward to his first home Tuesday night game as Town boss when Shrewsbury take on Charlton Athletic tomorrow evening.Town will be looking to bounce back from their 2-1 defeat to MK Dons on Saturday and face a Charlton side that have lost to relegation rivals Bury and Oldham Athletic in recent weeks.
Town’s home form has been good since Paul Hurst arrived at the club, losing just once and the former Grimsby boss is pleased with how Town have performed at Greenhous Meadow.
“I think we’ve had a good run since we came in”, Paul told the gathering media.
“Not picking up results at home seemed to be an issue and we’ve managed to that. As I said when we lost against Peterborough, in the next game you want to try and have a positive outcome so you don’t go the other way.
“There’s been a good atmosphere here, there’s no doubt about that. Hopefully, that will continue because I believe we will certainly need all the fans to stick together for the last two months of the season.
“We need everyone pulling together. I think we’ve had that so far and in the main we’ve done okay and let’s hope we can continue that.”
Charlton currently sit just four places above Town in the League One table, but Paul knows they are a side capable of causing a number of problems on their day.
“Their finances are a long way ahead of ourselves and many more in our league”, Hurst said.
“So, when you look at it like that and where they’ve been in the last few years it will be massively disappointing, to particularly the fans, and I think that is part of their frustration.
“But, they have got some real threats and I’m sure there will be some teams looking at their players and thinking that they can perhaps take some of them and they will still do well in higher leagues.
“On their day they certainly have the players capable of causing us a lot of trouble, so we’ve got to do all we can to make it uncomfortable for Charlton, not let them get in a real rhythm and have full concentration to try and stop the attack minded players they have got in the team.”
Meanwhile, Paul reiterated the importance of work ethic and wants his team to stick together in order to get back to winning ways.
“Today I’ve spoken to the players and given them a couple of my thoughts from Saturday”, said Paul.
“They seemed a bit down, which I don’t mind because I want it to get to the point where if we do get beat it’s a feeling they don’t like and it’s a feeling that is perhaps slightly unusual.
“But, we have got to stick together. That’s been the message from the start. The only difference now is that we’ve been through January and we’ve got a squad that we know is going to stay together between now and the end of the season.
“If we are going to get results against teams like Charlton, with the players they’ve got, it’s going to be a team effort.”