Town won’t roll over against Nottingham Forest, vows Paul Hurst

Shrewsbury Town tackle the former European champions for the first time in their history as Mark Warburton’s well-fancied side play hosts.

But Town, who like Forest got their league season under way with a 1-0 home victory, will go there in good spirit with Hurst’s positivity ringing in their ears.

“Going to Forest expectation levels (on us) might be slightly different, but what I certainly don’t want to do is go there and just roll over and have our bellies tickled,” said the Town chief.

“I want the players to go there and put on a good performance. If that’s good enough will remain to be seen.

“It’s got to be one where you don’t let the fact you’re playing a team from the Championship in plush surroundings make you wilt or crumble.

“You’ve got to be able to stand up to that and I think the better players, the ones maybe capable of kicking on again, they should relish that challenge and that’s what we’ll be looking for.”

Hurst will give starts to some of his first-team squad that were on the bench for the curtain-raiser against Northampton, but ruled out fielding any first-year professionals in the tie.

The boss has no fresh fitness concerns ahead of the trip.

Town have faced the likes of Arsenal and Chelsea in this competition recently and faced then Premier League Sunderland last year.

“I definitely don’t strive for the publicity!” Hurst added on a potential glamour tie. “It would be nice to have the challenge.

“For me this is a big challenge in itself because of the way Forest play. I’ve spoke to a lot of people over the summer, whether that’s agents, managers or people in football, there’s a general feeling that the gap between Championship and League One is becoming greater.”