Bernard McNally: Shrewsbury Town mustn't let self-belief ebb away
With seven games left, Town have picked a bad time to lose the good form that had almost lifted them clear of relegation trouble.
Being dragged back into the chaos near the bottom, they need calm heads to see them through. Mentally, they need to be strong and resolute,
If they can get two wins on the bounce, for example, the whole mood will change yet again. This is the thing with football, managers always strive for consistency, if you can find that then you'll have a decent season.
It's a very important four days as Paul Hurst takes his side to Bristol Rovers before they welcome Millwall in their game in hand on Tuesday.
Six points would be tremendous but four would be most welcome too. It's a very important stage of the season, we'll have to hope for a positive outcome. Travelling down to Bristol is a tough one, they're having a decent season coming up from League Two and are particularly strong at home.
These final seven games look tough and Town will hope they can string a sequence together sooner rather than later to get out of trouble – so they're not leaving it until the last couple of games.
Paul has made the point about the psychology of his players. They conceded in the early part of the second half, he knows these players, he's worked with them, he can gauge the mood and mentality in them.
They'd done well in the first half, more than matching Bolton, and created chances.
But when the goal goes in – a bad one to concede from a throw-in – Paul's looked at their demeanour, heads down and slumped, he's looking for people to spur his side on and say 'Come on, we can get back into this!'
That air of pessimism can still come back quickly. Self-belief can evaporate very quickly when things aren't going your way.
As individuals, the players have got to roll up their sleeves, speak with their team-mates and reinforce that they can do it.
When the manager sends them out the tunnel and on the pitch, there is a limited influence from the dugout – it's down to those players.
There's got to be that camaraderie among the group. The Shrewsbury teams I played in had loads of it and it has to be installed again – because Town did have it a month or so ago.
They used a three-man defence for the first time under Paul and it matched Bolton. The manager will be mulling over his players, whether the three defenders were the right combination, did Adam El-Abd work alongside Toto and Mat Sadler? There'll be a lot to think about.
The other side to it is with the wing-backs, whether your wing-backs are more defence-minded or attack-minded. Could someone like a Shaun Whalley do that?
You've got to admire him for using the system, he's said multiple times he doesn't like it yet it worked against the in-form visitors for the first 45 minutes.
It does depend on personnel and he'll probably return to a back four that he knows well and is tried and trusted.
