Bernard McNally: Shrewsbury Town fans' reaction shows Paul Hurst's support

It's always great to see the fans get on the pitch and their excitement – it was a great occasion, writes Bernard McNally.

Let's face it, I never foresaw Shrewsbury beating Southend 1-0. It came out of the blue and it was a sensational result.

It's great to see that the fans are right behind the team and Paul Hurst. You can really enjoy those kind of scenes.

Port Vale obviously didn't do Town any favours by beating Walsall on Tuesday night but that's football, one minute you think you're completely safe, then someone pulls something out of the bag.

It's still going down to the wire at Oxford on Sunday. But you hope Town can take all of the confidence and belief from the Southend win to the Kassam and keep it in their own hands.

The run of four matches unbeaten Hurst has guided Town on is credit to him and the players. They really stuck to their guns and believed in themselves.

I've mentioned the togetherness that they've needed before and it's really been shown at a critical time.

Now they're within the last couple of yards of the finishing line. It's tantalisingly close, but now they can't rest back, now they have to say 'let's go and see it through'. Go with the positivity and get the win, take no chances.

They've put themselves in a much better position by beating Southend than they would be in even if they'd only picked up a decent point.

There's a bit of pressure on Oxford being at home but they're doing nothing in mid-table and hopefully you can catch them languishing and waiting for their holidays.

We had a couple of final day dramas with Shrewsbury but the one that sticks most in my head is with West Brom. We had to go and win at Portsmouth to stay up and the 1-0 win was so intense. With Town we spent three or four years at what is now Championship always pulling it out of the bag. We always seemed to go and get that win that was needed. Then after a couple of years we had some fine seasons where we finished eighth and ninth.

Teams gel together and hopefully that'll happen with Shrewsbury. Paul's main priority is Oxford but as soon as the season's finished and once they're travelling home, they'll be talking about how they can strengthen.

Paul would've been relieved. There's no two ways about it, but when Vale win you sort of think 'OK, there's a bit more pressure back on'. But it's about how you handle that pressure and he's shown he can deal with it.

It was pleasing to hear the manager talk about the support from the chairman afterwards. Paul knows that the chairman's behind him – and that's a positive thing. He's repaid Roland Wycherley in a lot of ways, now they both want to see the weekend out and build for next season!

It's a work-in-progress all around and it'll be a fascinating summer.