Josh Laurent reflects on Town's second-round Emirates FA Cup win over Mansfield Town
Shrewsbury Town welcomed Mansfield Town to the Montgomery Waters Meadow for the second-round of the Emirates FA Cup.
It was FA Cup delight for Town, as Sam Ricketts' Shrews managed to notch two late goals to secure a third-round spot in the competition.
Josh Laurent continued his FA Cup heroics and opened Town’s account in the 88th minute, scoring another FA Cup goal for Salop.
The midfielder was delighted to have helped his team secure the win with his late goal and was pleased with his teams’ performance over the 90 minutes. He said: “I am over the moon. The character we showed to battle back after going down to 10 men was great.
“It was good to get the goal but it was nice when Brad scored so we could relax. Football is enjoyable right now. It was tough work, but I think we got better when we went down to 10 men - it showed the character of the lads.
“We created some good chances and moved the ball really well – even with 10 men. I think we were a bit unlucky to not have scored earlier on, but I think we did really well. It was never in doubt, no one panicked. We just got our heads down and kept going.
“I wasn’t thinking too much when I scored, I just kept running forward and the ball fell next to me. When I turned around and saw the flag was still down, I was over the moon. This round of the FA Cup has been good to me and hopefully that can continue.
“Brad made a great impact when he came on. He has a really cool head on him, so when he goes through I always think he’s going to score. Fey did really well coming in today too, he did a lot of unselfish things for the team and worked really hard.”
Josh is looking forward to the third-round of the competition and is looking forward to seeing who Salop will be taking on in the next round.
“I want Manchester United away,” Josh said. “That would be a nice choice. It was Spurs but with recent results, I want United away. If someone said we would be playing Mansfield in the second-round and you have a chance of drawing someone big in the next round – you’d have bitten their hand off!
“We had to grab that chance and we did. We can all look forward to sitting down on Monday nice and relaxed to see who we draw.
“The game showed our willingness, our character, and our will to do well and that comes from the gaffer and his coaching staff. It’s in us and they help to bring that from us.”