Bernard McNally: Two cup wins have given Shrewsbury Town a big lift
Paul Hurst has enjoyed a good first few weeks at Shrewsbury Town – as a manager you always want to get off to a winning start.
I know a lot of supporters will not be convinced about the teams they have played, a side from League Two in the FA Cup and Middlesbrough Under-21s, but you can only beat what is put in front of you.
Paul will now be looking at it and thinking that the results have given his side a lot of confidence going into the crucial League One clash against Oxford on Saturday.
To travel all the way to Middlesbrough and get a result like that is tremendous.
Saturday's handsome win and progression in the Cup against Barnet was a great result. Barnet are doing OK in League Two and are no pushovers. I know the players will draw a lot of confidence from these performances.
They'll be ready to go at Oxford United from the off, go for the jugular and get the three points.
Strikers thrive on confidence and that's exactly what we're seeing from AJ Leitch-Smith.
He's looked a different player since getting that goal against Barnet and bagged two good finishes at the Riverside.
Whenever strikers aren't scoring goals people ask questions and inevitably players even ask questions of themselves.
The goal was just what he needed. Suddenly having a striker that's confident makes such a difference, so let's hope he has turned himself a corner and he can step up and get some league goals too.
The work-rate has to be there though. I'm thinking of people like Gary Stevens and Colin Robinson and forwards like that would work their socks off.
Colin would cover every blade of grass, but he'd also come up with the goals and so would Gary.
We had other players like John McGinlay, who was a tremendous striker, he played for Scotland and went on to score loads at Bolton.
I was very, very fortunate and they'd have probably said they could've done with a better team behind them!
Players remember more of the good times rather than the bad but I'm sure strikers I played with had droughts. All you can do is keep your work-rate, keep mentally telling yourself that you're good enough.
AJ looks like a busy player, of the ilk of Colin, who would put people under pressure and hopefully he can keep improving and be a valuable asset.
I was pleased to see Graham Turner welcome the appointment of Paul. Graham's a legend at Shrewsbury and there aren't many managers that get 1,000 games under their belt – so that's high praise indeed.
Oxford are managed by former Albion man Michael Appleton, he got them up last season. Appy has done very well and has a good side there.
It'll be a different game. We may not expect another 3-0 and the Town will be more than happy to come away with a 1-0.
They need the performance, of course, but the result and three points is vital.
