Shrewsbury Town players urged to grasp chance in Junior Brown's absence

Popular left-back Brown has been ruled out for the remainder of the season with injury after a scan detected damage to his cruciate ligament.

The news comes as a significant blow for Hurst and Town with no natural left-bank in the ranks to replace Brown.

Centre-half Omar Beckles and right-back Joe Riley will battle it out for the vacant position, while Mat Sadler and James Bolton can also play there.

“Whoever goes in,” said Hurst. “I’ve got confidence that they’ll give their all and do their best. When things feel like they’re going against you you’ve all got to pull together and keep going.

“They don’t do themselves any harm, particularly if it’s not their number one position.

“As someone who played many different positions, I always see it as a positive when people can play more than one position.

“If it came to a point and another club was interested in them and I was saying ‘that’s his best position but he can also do this and this’ – managers love that.

“If you’re going to come into a team, at least it’s not a side struggling for form and points.

“Hopefully they’ll go in with some confidence and express themselves.

“There’ll be no pressure on them, it’s about them doing the best they can for themselves and the team.”

Hurst’s table-toppers travel to struggling Peterborough tomorrow, who led the way in League One after four games in August, but are now without a win in six.

They are without any other fitness concerns, but Hurst – whose side can equal a Football League record 16 games without defeat – will not let his side take it easy.

He added: “We can put pressure on them but on the flip side they’re playing against top of the pile.

“There’s no better motivation. Everyone’s team talk when they come against us must be very easy at the minute. They’re going to say ‘they’ll be beaten at some point – why don’t we be first?’ It’s obvious.

“I’m sure they’ll be fired up. The performance I’ve seen have not been that bad.”