Gaffer looks ahead to Checkatrade Semi-Final
Shrewsbury Town boss Paul Hurst has reiterated his desire to take the club to Wembley as he looks ahead to tomorrow night’s game against Yeovil Town in the Checkatrade Trophy.
Town are just ninety minutes away from playing at the national stadium, but Yeovil stand in their way and Hurst was quick to point out that victory far from a definite conclusion.
“I want to stress that there’s no thoughts about Wembley and already being there, because Yeovil will have lots of motivation themselves to reach the final.
“What I don’t want is having worked hard to get here and contended with the extra games that its included, to then fall at the last hurdle, so we will be doing everything we can to try and win the game.
“But, what I must stress is that anyone that thinks it’s a foregone conclusion couldn’t be further from the truth and the fact Yeovil have beaten a few League One clubs in this competition just proves that they are more than capable.”
Yeovil have already beaten five Sky Bet League One teams in all competitions this season and having watched them in the last round, Hurst knows what they are about.
“That game really swung”, Paul said.
“Fleetwood got in front and looked quite confident. Then Yeovil got back in the game and looked the better side. They were ahead but then a latish equaliser from Fleetwood and you were half expecting to see penalties, but Yeovil dug-in, showed great character and it was a fantastic finish from Zoko that got them through.
“Lots of players, whether it’s Conference, League Two, League One, can all perform on the day, it’s how often they can perform, but when it’s a one-off game like this they’ve shown that they are more than capable.”
However, Paul hopes that the motivation of a place at Wembley will drive his players on.
“It should be one of those where I shouldn’t really have to say anything”
“At the early stages, like the Coventry game, I’m having to try use my experience to get the message across to the players about what can be achieved, but now we’re at this stage there’s no way in a million years that I should have to say anything in terms of motivating people.
“For me, it’s about preparing like we did for Charlton on Saturday or any other game, where the players will get the information on Yeovil, we will have done our homework and now it’s about putting into practice bits that we’ve seen, and putting in another good performance that should give us a chance of winning the game.”