Shrewsbury Town

Gaffer looks ahead to facing high flying Trotters

Shrewsbury Town manager Paul Hurst believes his side will have to be at their very best if they are to get anything from the game against Bolton on Saturday

Wanderers currently sit 2nd in League One, having lost just once in their last 10 games – a defeat to table toppers Sheffield United.

Bolton have scored four goals in each of their last three away games and Paul is wary of the threats they cause.

“We will try and keep them quiet in general play, but they can certainly fall back on their set plays”, said Hurst.

“They’ve got fantastic delivery in Morais and then you look at the attacking options they’ve got and they’ve probably got four lads that can be seen as the first marker or the first header of the ball.

“Added to that they’ve got long throws from either side of the pitch, so it’s no surprise that they are doing well. But, we have somehow got to combat that the best we can and at the same time cause them a few problems.

“We can’t just sit back and take our punishment, we’ve got to try and do something about it. We’ve had a couple of big results during the season and this will probably surpass any of those because of how they are going, but that’s what we’ve got to strive for.”


Paul understands the difficulty of the task at hand and believes that the Town players will have to be at their very best in order to have a chance of taking something from the game.

“You’ve got to play well, compete physically, try not to give too many set plays away and when you do, do everything you can to make things difficult for your opponent”, said Paul.

“Ultimately you’ve got to really play well yourself to give yourself any chance. If we are at something like 75% of our ability on Saturday then we have no chance. If we are up above over 90% of what we can do then we might have a chance.

“They’ve got a clear target of what they are going for and what they are trying to achieve and that is coming good for them and they are in excellent form.

“So, it is a difficult time to play them, but they were in pretty good form before Boxing Day and we equipped ourselves well on the day and we know there was a major decision that perhaps cost us a point, so we’ve shown it can be done.

“But, you’d always expect a Bolton team in this league to have good players and be right up there.”


Meanwhile, Paul confirmed that Abu Ogogo remains the only Town man out with injury ahead of Saturday’s game.