Gaffer looks back on Checkatrade Trophy Quarter-Final
Shrewsbury Town boss Paul Hurst was delighted to make it to the semi-finals of the Checkatrade Trophy after a 2-1 win over Oldham Athletic.
Alex Rodman’s 88th minute separated the two sides after Stefan Payne’s 16 second opener and Aaron Holloway’s equaliser.
“I thought we started the game well and then it became hard work”, Hurst said.
“But, they showed character, the dug in, got the winning goal and now we are 90 minutes away from a final at the national stadium. That’s what we set out to do and we are very close to that now. We will look forward to the draw on Thursday and we hope that we get a kind draw again.”
Hurst wasn’t particularly happy with the way Town conceded tonight, but he was glad to avoid penalties.
“It was a good bit of play”, Paul said of Rodman’s goal.
“That second half and probably towards the end of the first-half we struggled to string too many passes together and that was the criticism from me because when you keep giving it away you have to work harder to get it back or get into shape.
“Fair play to Oldham they were always going to go for it. They’ve got two physical strikers that were always going to be a handful and if they keep putting the ball in there they will cause problems.
“It was a sloppy goal again. We lose the first header and I don’t know what we’re doing with the next part of, but it’s one-all and we are thinking about going to penalties, but thankfully we didn’t have to go through that.”
However, the Town boss wasn’t happy with a couple of fans who were critical of his players.
“Arthur’s got down the right-hand side and put a good ball in, another assist for him, and Stef hit it and the next thing I know it’s in the back of the net”, said Hurst.
“It’s a good finish and nice for him. The strikers have maybe been called into question a little bit of late, but Carlton scored on Saturday and Stef’s scored tonight.
“I’m a little bit upset at one or two things I heard from the crowd tonight, probably for the first time. I will stick up for my players all day long and I think the couple of people that I heard saying things need to remember where we were and what we are.
“That is only one or two, but I think it needs to be brought up because when things are going well you almost don’t need the fans. You need them more when things aren’t going great and it almost felt like we had one half of the stadium doing that and the others weren’t.
“All I ask is that they remember that these lads have given everything and stick with them. They don’t need to hear any negativity, which seems ridiculous considering the season we’ve had so far.”