Gaffer looks ahead to Millers visit
Shrewsbury Town Boss Paul Hurst admits that he is looking forward to welcoming his former club to the Montgomery Waters Meadow on Saturday.
Rotherham are the visitors, a club Hurst made over 400 appearances for as a player.
Paul played alongside Rotherham Manager Paul Warne during his playing days and he is looking forward to taking on his old teammate this weekend.
“It’s a fixture that I looked at at the start of the season”, Hurst told the Press.
“Quite a bulk of their staff I know very well either from playing with them or against them, we’re all similar ages and they are all good lads, so it adds a little bit of extra to it I suppose.
“It’s a club that I played for for so long in my career, so naturally you have good feelings towards it. They looked after my family and myself very well when we went up there and it was nice to go back.”
The Millers are on a brilliant run of late, having not lost since early December and Hurst is well aware of their threats.
“I think its 12 games unbeaten and five straight wins”, said Paul.
“They are bang in form. I watched their game this morning from midweek against Oxford and they just look like a team full of confidence and full of energy.
“Knowing Warney, the way that he is, they will be fit, very fit. I would expect that ourselves and them would be two of the fittest teams in the league, and they are playing with an enthusiasm that Warney certainly had as a player.
“It’s no surprise that they are doing well. I think they were a little bit lower down the league around the time that we played them first time, but they’ve come good.
“When you look at the table now the other three teams, apart from ourselves, in the top four are the three teams that came down from the Championship and we are going to have to be at our best if we are going to stop the run that we are on.”
Whilst Paul understands that the build-up will concentrate on his connection with Rotherham, he is concentrating firmly on the game itself and its one that he is looking forward to being involved in.
“In all honesty there will be no greater desire than normal to win”, Hurst said.
“There will be a big crowd in and they will bring a good following I’m sure, but it’s more about the position we are in that makes it a big game because it’s first v fourth going into the game.
“I’ve said before that I want to prolong it for as long as we can and we are in mid-February and we are still there.
“I said all along that I want us to try and be involved in big games and certainly Saturday’s one of those that you’d class as a big game.”