Gaffer impressed by final opponents
Shrewsbury Town boss Paul Hurst has given his take on Sunday’s Checkatrade Trophy Final opponents Lincoln City.
The Imps are enjoying a fantastic season in League Two, currently sitting sixth in the league, having won the National League title last season.
Hurst knows the Lincoln City Manager, Danny Cowley, well from his days in non-league and he is pleased to see both Cowley and Lincoln doing well.
“They are a good club but they had struggled to really put together any real kind of promotion push over the years”, said Paul.
“I had some fierce contests with them over the years when I was at Grimsby, really good games and atmospheres but they always seemed to fade away as the season went on.
“He (Danny Cowley) went there in his first season and got them promoted. Not only that, but they had the fantastic FA Cup run and I think as a club they have really capitalised on that run.
"They’ve invested in the squad, they’ve kept that real feel good factor around, crowds have gone up substantially, so the clubs in a really good place and they look like they are a good bet for the play-offs and another chance of promotion.
"He’s done a really good job and continued what he’d done at Braintree, where I think he came to everyone’s attention, but also Concord where he was before that as well, so fair play to him.
"We do speak from time to time, but any friendship goes out of the window on Sunday because you want to get the better of your opponent and the opposition club."
With the likes of Matt Green, Matt Rhead and Michael Bostwick in their ranks, Lincoln certainly have a physical edge to their play, but Paul believes that hard work has been key to their success this season.
“They’re a threat from set-plays and they’ve scored a number of goals through that - some obvious ones and some clever free-kicks that they’ve attempted as well”, said Hurst.
“They’ve got some similarities with our group in terms of the energy and the hard work. It’s no surprise that a lot of teams that do well get talked about for being hard working, and that’s why it amazes me that some people think it’s an extra when it should be a given.
“We certainly demand that from our players and both sets of players have certainly done that over the course of the season. This is kind of a reward because the League campaigns are the most important, but there can only be one winner and we are desperate for that to be us.”
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