Gaffer looks ahead to difficult Bradford City test on Saturday
Shrewsbury Town Manager Paul Hurst is expecting a difficult test when Town take on fifth placed Bradford City on Saturday.
Bradford have lost just once away from home all season and have the best record on the road in Sky Bet League One.
It all makes for an exciting game on Saturday and Paul expects his players to be right up for it.
“So far we have responded well to any set-backs we’ve had and we will be looking to do the same”, Hurst told ShrewsWeb.
“Since I’ve come to the football club the home form has been very good. I’m sure we will suffer a defeat or two at some point, but we have no reason to go into the game too down on ourselves.
“But, it will be a tough test because they’ve got some very good players, they were losing finalists last year in the play-offs and they are a very good side.”
Bradford suffered a defeat on Tuesday night, but prior to that they beat second-placed Wigan Athletic and Hurst knows all about their threats.
“I think they’ve got obvious threats in terms of goalscorers with Charlie Wyke and (Paul) Taylor”, Paul said.
“Then across midfield I think they’ve got a really nice mix of footballers, energy and grafters as well. Then at the back they’ve got a former Shrewsbury player (Nat Knight-Percival) and Matt Kilgallon, who I think a lot of people might think is too old, but I’ve hardly seen him break sweat yet.
“They’ve got some good players and a good squad. It’s a big football club, realistically, for the league we are in and hopefully that will be shown with the support that they bring, which should make for a good atmosphere in the ground.”
This will be Town’s first home league game since the 21st October and Paul hopes the Town fans will really get behind his side.
“We got a half decent turnout against Walsall for the Checkatrade and we managed to reward the fans in the Aldershot game with some goals, but it has been a little while (since the last home game)”, Hurst said.
“It’s an expensive time of year coming up for everybody, but we are hoping that we can get some good numbers backing us, as we have done with our away followings, help counter the away support that Bradford bring and hopefully cheer us onto victory.”