Paul Hurst questions Shrewsbury Town nerves in draw
Paul Hurst questioned whether nerves played a part as his Shrewsbury side struggled to rally during a goalless draw with rock-bottom Coventry, who sacked their manager Russell Slade last night.
Town extended their unbeaten home run to six games and increased the gap to danger zone to six points.
But they were made to work hard by their struggling visitors, who created more opportunities.
A serious early injury to City's Andy Rose, which caused a 20-minute delay, led to a disjointed afternoon especially when in-form winger Shaun Whalley also went off with a hamstring problem but his injury is not thought to be too serious. Town also passed up a glorious chance on the stroke of half-time as Tyler Roberts saw his penalty kick saved by Lee Burge.
Hurst's side was unchanged from the XI that started against Charlton four days earlier when Salop thrillingly secured a 4-3 success. "I asked the lads that started if they were tired and I didn't get a response that they were," admitted the Shrewsbury chief.
"That makes it worse that we found it difficult to get motivation and to get going. Maybe, and I'm thinking of reasons, they were nervous we'd built the game up and there was a real good opportunity to win the game.
"I don't know, maybe I'm looking for excuses. It wasn't the best day. I will ask questions of myself and look at it but I can't change it now. We move onto the next one and hopefully get some better preparation in for Saturday's game at Chesterfield." Hurst added the point could prove to be key in securing safety come the end of the season with just 10 League One matches remaining, beginning on Saturday at second-bottom Chesterfield.
He added: "It was the edgiest the crowd have been for a long time, I think. Again I can't blame some of them for wanting better because I totally understand it and am in agreement with it. But again we haven't been beaten and that's a massive positive when you don't perform. At least we did show a bit of resilience. There was some fight in some respects, some good defending and I thought Mat Sadler was outstanding."
"You're watching from the sides and you never give a pass away or make a bad decision but it looked so simple with the passes, we were wrapping it around peoples' throats or kicking it the wrong side of the player, letting the opposition intercept. It was a bad day but could've been worse in talking about a defeat."
