Bright out to win over Town’s fans
Monday 16th November 2009, 1:08PM GMT.
Striker Kris Bright has vowed to put in the hours to turn around his Shrewsbury Town career – and earn his passage to next year’s World Cup in South Africa.
The New Zealand international has struggled to settle at the Prostar Stadium, and was booed by some supporters when he came on as a substitute in Saturday’s 1-1 draw with 10-man Torquay.
But the 23-year-old believes he can still win the fans over, and he has an added incentive after the Kiwis booked a spot in the World Cup finals for only the second time in their history.
New Zealand beat Bahrain 1-0 in the Asia/Oceania play-off on Saturday, former Shrewsbury loan man Rory Fallon scoring the only goal of the game.
“I got up early on Saturday morning and my dad was commentating for me as he was watching,” Bright revealed.
“I was on stand-by with four others for that game, so I’m just going to work hard and see what happens. I made my debut almost exactly a year ago and I’ve got one goal in four caps.
“Hopefully I can get some more caps under my belt and get to go to the World Cup, which is pretty much every player’s dream.
“I’m working hard as I can. It’s difficult when you don’t get too much game time, but I’m putting in the hours every day. Not everybody sees that, but I’ll keep doing it and see what happens.”
Meanwhile, Town boss Paul Simpson admitted he was a frustrated man after seeing his side fail to see off a Torquay team that had to play most of the second half of Saturday’s League Two clash with 10 men.
The Devon side took a shock lead through Chris Hargreaves before Dave Hibbert equalised with his ninth goal of the season.
“We were waiting for something to go against us before we had any life about us, and you can’t do that at any level of football,” said Simpson.
“You’ve got to have that desire. Maybe they were all a little bit nervous, but I don’t really care – there’s no place for nerves, you’ve got to be positive.
“You’ve got to get yourself on the front foot and make things happen.”
l Shrewsbury entertain Morecambe in the second round of the FA Youth Cup at the Prostar Stadium tonight. Kick-off is 7pm with admission £3 adults and £1 concessions.
By CHRIS HUDSON
Shropshire Star on Twitter
Keep updated with the latest breaking news and content on our Twitter feed.
Lifestyle
Interactive Dining Out map
Hundreds of reviews by the Shropshire Star and Express & Star's teams to help you decide where to eat.
Entertainment
All the film reviews
Before you plan a trip to the pictures, get our critics' verdicts on all the latest movie releases.
OUR NEW APP
Get the new Shropshire Star app
Download the Shropshire Star’s new app to your iPad or iPhone to get one week of access to our digital newspapers absolutely FREE.
shropshirestar.com
Popular sections
Useful links
The thing with Kris Bright is he cannot be as ineffective as he has looked so far otherwise he wouldn’t have a contract anywhere! He must be better than that, he’s just lulling us into a false sense of insecurity!! PS don’t boo Town players please, ever.
Report abuse
kris bright looks like he belongs in the sunday league. he looks cluless when he is on the field.
simmo made a bad signing in bright.
he should be sacked. boooo
Report abuse
booooooooooooo
Report abuse
I can’t for the life of me see how booing a team or indeed an individual player can bring out the best in them, all those so called Town fans (boo boys) should be ashamed of themselves (they are seriously hampering our teams chances at home). The team needs every man and his dog cheering them on. At the moment town are having to play the opposition 11 plus their own crowd, which in my book is as good as playing against 12 men. No wonder Mr Simpson thinks twice about blooding a youngster at home. The hostile environment is not productive for good football. We have a fine squad of players and arguably the best management in league 2, the only thing we are lacking is support from certain areas of the ground. We are all in this together. Directors, Manager, Coaches, Players and the crowd etc, It all comes as a “package”. so lets stop this petty bickering and get behind the lads.
Report abuse
i have follwed town for thirty years this is the worsed team i have seen they lack guts and pride.
i pay good money to see them.
back in the 90′s when town were releagate they never won many games at home but they showed guts which made good football.it does not mater if they win or lose its how they play.
saturday showed some players lack of guts and pride. dean holden was one of the players who showed guts. if they had 11 players like that we would be top of the division. simmo is a good manager. just some off the players dont care what shirt they wear as long as its a football team. poor performance means less paying to watch them. less money for town to spend
Report abuse
Anyone who suggests this is the worst team in 30 years has forgotten the Ratcliffe team that conceded over 90 goals in a season.
Report abuse
Miksal has a very short memory. Its that sort of negativity that’s dragging the team down. I do agree on one point, Dean Holden is awesome(sadly come the transfer window he may be on a few shopping lists, remember Mark Tierney?) Players do care, except the odd bad apple, they have families to support etc. They are all striving to play at a higher level and reap the rewards that can bring. We need to get the home support sorted, then you will see confidence return and certain players will be able to perform without the monkey on their backs.
Report abuse
i was just making a point on the way the town players gave there all for the shirt bin the 90′s
any one renmber tommey lnych,even dean spink .no one gave him stick when he was not scoring goals.
because he always gave his all.
Report abuse
Although I enjoy playing I am not bothered to pay to watch football. Surely though if people feel so strongly about the lack of quality of their team they should vote with their feet and stop going to matches. Why pay to watch the utter rubbish that seems to be happening week after week with STFC? Once the powers that be at Town realise the revenue is dissapearing they will focus their minds a little more and start to put some heart and pride into what they are being payed a pretty good wage for. Like I said, i don’t go to watch them but when I hear on the radio on a monday morning that yet agin STFC have failed to achieve anything even against dead certs I feel a little downhearted.
Report abuse
Nice to hear that Town fans have been getting behind their team as usual! First booing against Staines during the match and now booing players before they’ve even kicked a ball, I’m all up for a bit of booing AFTER a poor match but what good is booing going to do during a match, it’s hardly going to inspire is it? Some Town fans remind me of Newcastle fans; a bunch of fickle idiots who haven’t got a clue about football. Have a word with yourselves.
Report abuse
Miksal76, if you can make a difference get your boots on and show us
Report abuse