Shrewsbury boss Paul Simpson was full of praise for his debutants after an afternoon of positives against Stafford Rangers.

Shane Sherriff, Richard Walker, Stephen Hindmarch and Grant Holt all impressed on their first appearances for the club as Town strolled to a 3-0 win over the Blue Square North outfit on Saturday.

Record signing Holt bagged his first goal for Town just five minutes after entering the fray early in the second half with a powerful close range header.

“Grant did what I’ve brought him here to do basically,” said Simpson.

“I want him to go and get in areas where he’s going to score goals – if you’ve got someone like that then you’ve got half a chance.”

The former Nottingham Forest marksman came on for Dave Hibbert after ten minutes of the second period and showed glimpses of what the Shrews fans can expect this season with a lively opening display.

Strike partner Walker, signed from Bristol Rovers on a season long loan, also caught the eye with impressive composure and awareness.

Simpson commented: “He’s an experienced footballer and a good footballer.

“You can’t expect him to go sprinting in behind and using pace – he’s a clever player who gets in it into his feet and links with others around him

“He’s got that nasty knack of getting on the end of crosses as well. Hopefully he’ll continue to do that.”

Hindmarch worked hard after replacing the injured Chris Humphrey while Sheriff already appears to be forging a good relationship with defensive partner Kelvin Langmead, but Simpson is under no illusions that there is still plenty of work to be done.

“There are a lot of positives we can take out of it this,” he added.

“It’s the first pre-season game and we’ve kept a cleansheet. I’m pleased with a lot of things.

“It was tough at times because we were a little bit rusty with our passing, but in the end we’ve come through it.

“You can do all the training that you want, all of the running and all of the weights, but you need to get through that second wind phase which comes at about 65 or 70 minutes of a game.”

By Sean Wozencroft