Paul Hurst wants to see Shrewsbury Town mean streak
Paul Hurst wants full-throttle performances from his Shrewsbury Town team as he seeks to rid them of a cautious mentality.
The Town chief saw his side pick up a point from a goalless derby encounter with Port Vale as Shrewsbury halted a run of back-to-back League One defeats.
The clean sheet was Town's fourth in seven appearances under Hurst since his arrival from Grimsby. But the hosts were unable to take advantage of a few clear-cut chances and remain five points adrift of safety after the draw.
And Hurst wants his side, who stirred after the break and got at the Valiants in search of a winner, to be more relentless from the off.
"You've got to try and embrace it, enjoy the challenges and we've spoken about that again," said Hurst.
"Going out there on match day, on Saturday for instance, certainly in the first half – there's an element of us, to use the analogy, dipping our toe in and testing the water a little bit.
"I want us to get to the stage where we're just diving in and getting on with it.
"I don't think supporters from either side can go away questioning effort, but I think it would be fair to say they could question elements of quality.
"And the lads in there are honest and when I was speaking they were nodding their heads and I could see some of them saying it to themselves so we know that.
"But for us it's a hell of a lot easier to show that quality when you're feeling confident or when you're out on the training ground when there's no pressure."
Town were forced into a late change as Jack Grimmer limped off with a worrying injury after slipping into a challenge in the keenly-contested clash.
But the Scot, who has also suffered a couple of injury setbacks this season, is not set for another spell on the sidelines as Hurst allayed fears over knocks to Grimmer and Gary Deegan – who was named Shrewsbury's man of the match.
"I think it's just a small impact injury, nothing too bad," the boss added. "I thought Dom (Smith) did well to come up and get to the speed of the game.
"Deegs has something similar, a small impact injury, but fingers crossed it shouldn't be anything too major."
