Paul Hurst delighted by Shrewsbury Town victory despite dropping into relegation zone

Home debutant Freddie Ladapo struck shortly before half-time as the Crystal Palace loanee impressed the home faithful.

The narrow win, a first victory in five games, was not enough to keep Town outside the bottom four.

Wins elsewhere, for Bury, Chesterfield and Oldham shook things up at the bottom, with the formers' 5-1 success lifting them above Town into 20th - leaving Town 21st.

Hurst said: "No I didn't enjoy it really! It feels like we're already on Sunday when you're protecting a one-goal lead like that!

"Against a team like Bradford, who then throw big James Hanson on, it seemed like the second-half took a long time.

"That said, I thought the [players were outstanding, with the effort they put in, and created the best chances, apart from the goal.

"Overall I'm delighted but I'm sure as everyone has seen, we've gone back in the relegation zone.

"Things could've been worse if we hadn't got the three points so I'll try and stay positive."

Hurst was delighted at how few opportunities his side allowed high-flying Bradford, who rarely troubled Jayson Leutwiler's goal.

"I don't think we give up too many chances against a lot of teams," said Hurst, "They're a very good team with very good players.

"He did well. He got his goal and he would've said he could have had one before that. At the same time he was a big part of creating the chance.

"He worked tirelessly and occupied the centre-backs, We pushed Louis (Dodds) higher to help. We just wanted a lot more positive performance no matter the end outcome, certainly compared to last time we were here.

"We asked them to go and press, which they did for the majority."