Lack of width at Shrewsbury Town frustrates Paul Hurst

The Town chief, who has been in the hotseat for a month since replacing Micky Mellon, made it no secret that he favours an orthodox 4-4-2 set-up with wingers hugging the touchline.

Much of Hurst's opening month in charge has seen the boss select a 4-4-2 diamond, with all four midfielders tucked in together in a narrow design.

Shaun Whalley has been the main cause for a headache. The sprightly attacker, likely to be a key cog under Hurst due to his pace and ability to play out wide, returned from a five-week injury lay-off to net against Oxford, only to then pick up a slight thigh problem.

Another winger, on-loan Moha Choulay, has departed back to his parent club Stoke City.

"It makes it a lot more difficult to play width with the Whalley injury," said Hurst. "We spoke about the last home game with Oxford and Shaun coming on.

"The impact he can have, he'd just come back in the game against Middlesbrough and he worked very hard up there. He blew up – which was understandable and why he was on the bench against Oxford."

Hurst has gone with Sylvan Ebanks-Blake and George Waring when looking for options to influence a game. Former Wolves forward Ebanks-Blake came on at half-time as nine-man Town looked to salvage something at Sheffield United, while Waring was thrown on with Salop staring at defeat at Fleetwood.

Town academy product Ethan Jones was recalled from an unproductive loan spell at Tranmere Rovers in a bid to offer the squad more potent firepower, but a recurring knee problem has forced him to miss out.

Hurst has the January transfer window to address the problems and it is likely that the boss is already targeting pacy forwards able to function on each wing.

"George got on, it was Sylvan in the previous game," Hurst said.

"They can change games in getting you a goal but they haven't got the pace.

"It's certainly something I'm conscious of and we'll look to address."