Gaffer looking forward to Checkatrade Trophy Final
Shrewsbury Town boss Paul Hurst is urging his players to embrace the opportunity of playing at Wembley Stadium.
Town face Lincoln City on Sunday 8th April in the Checkatrade Trophy Final and for many players it will be the first-time they will have featured at the National Stadium.
Town have enjoyed a stellar season in League One, currently sitting second, and Paul now wants his players to enjoy the whole occasion.
“We’ve done okay in general since getting to the final and now we can look forward to that game, focus on that and enjoy the build-up”, Hurst said.
“I want the players to enjoy that because it’s not too often that we get this interest. The lads have to embrace that, but after today (press day) it will be back down to business and concentrating on putting something together to try and beat Lincoln.”
The Town boss has been lucky enough to win at the Old Wembley as a player and the New Wembley as a manager, but he won’t be taking Sunday for granted.
“One of the messages to the players will be ‘don’t let the moment pass you buy’ and also ‘don’t take it for granted that you are going to return’”, said Paul.
“I’ve been very fortunate and I know a few lads have played there, so it won’t be their first visit either, but will it ever happen again? Who knows? We hope so, but it doesn’t come around too often so I want everybody to enjoy the experience.
“There’s no doubt that there will be nerves flying around, naturally. I’ve said before that I don’t think nerves are a bad thing, you’ve just got to control them.
“I’ve managed some players that have clearly been effected by playing at Wembley, but others, that perhaps I had concerns about, really stepped up to the mark, so I’m hoping that the latter is true of our players and they can go and perform how we know they can.”
For more information on Wembley visit https://www.shrewsburytown.com/news/Wembley/