Gaffer looks ahead to Hammers replay
Shrewsbury Town boss Paul Hurst admitted that it would be ‘amazing’ if his side could knock West Ham out of the FA Cup tomorrow night.
Town had the better of the 0-0 draw at the Montgomery Waters Meadow eight days ago and now travel to the Olympic Stadium for the replay.
“It would be amazing if we could cause that upset and get through to the fourth round”, Paul said.
“It’s a special occasion for everyone involved with Shrewsbury Town. We are taking another fantastic following down there, which I am surprised at with it being midweek and so close after Christmas, but the fans are there yet again.
“They were fantastic at the weekend and stuck right behind the team and I’m sure they will do the same again on Tuesday evening.”
Town had two or three decent chances to win the initial tie, but Paul is expecting a more difficult game this time around and believes his side may have to ride their luck at times.
“I think it will certainly be more difficult”, Hurst admitted.
“Whatever they thought of us going into the first game they have now seen first-hand, so there will be no underestimating us and they will know that they will have to perform better than they did in the first game to progress.
“I’m sure they will have more of the ball than they did in the first game and create more chances, so we need to try and limit it as much as possible, whether it’s last ditch defending, a good goalkeeping performance or a bit of luck along the way.
“But, going the other way we need to try and create a couple of chances ourselves and make it as difficult as we can.”
West Ham are likely to make changes for the game, but Hurst is well aware that the confidence from their good league form could run through the whole Hammers squad.
“If it is a very similar line-up then our players have played against them, so they know a little bit about what they are facing”, said Paul.
“But, there’s no doubt that being on home soil will help and, whether or not anyone plays who played on Saturday, confidence will be building as a whole because they are moving up the Premier League nicely now and had some good results of late.
“I’m sure it’s a good place to be right now and any that maybe aren’t in the team at the moment will want to stake a claim that they can get involved in the Premiership games.”