Gaffer looks ahead to return to the Meadow
Shrewsbury Town boss Paul Hurst admits that he has been impressed with Plymouth Argyle’s revival this season.
When Town faced Plymouth back in October they were bottom of League One and had won just one of their opening 12 games.
“I’m expecting a really tough game”, Hurst admitted.
“I know I often say that but if you look at the last 14 games there’s only Blackburn and Wigan who have actually taken more points, so from that point of view it shows that we aren’t coming up against a team that have just come into form, but they have been in it for a long time.
“It’s only the fact that they had a difficult start that they aren’t right up there. I think they’ve lost one of their last 11 as well, which was against Wigan and I read somewhere that they were a little bit hard done by as well, so I don’t think it can get much tougher at the minute.”
Last weekend, Plymouth did Town a favour by beating Blackburn Rovers and Hurst believes they are a very different side to the one Town faced four months ago.
“I watched that game and they thoroughly deserved the victory”, said Paul.
“It wasn’t an afternoon where they were lucky or anything like that and they look a completely different side to what we faced earlier in the season.
“I know we only drew that game, but tactically they look different. They still get men behind the ball at times, but they’ve certainly looked a lot more positive in the games that I’ve seen recently.”
One bonus is that Town are back at home, where they have lost just once this season, but Paul doesn’t believe his players can take anything for granted.
“Even last season we had a good record at home and we would love for that to continue until the end of the season”, Hurst said.
“As I’ve mentioned recently, we’ve got more home games left in the run-in, but it’s far from a formality that we win those games. What’s been has gone and it’s all about the future.
“Every time you step out on the pitch you’ve got to earn the right and put on a performance to try and keep that record going.
“We are proud of what we’ve done at home, but, like I say, that’s the past now and we have to look to the future.”