Only perfection will do for Shrewsbury, says boss Paul Hurst

Town’s have five games left to reel in rivals Wigan and Blackburn and they begin tonight with the visit of play-off hunting Charlton Athletic.

Shrewsbury can narrow the gap to second-placed Blackburn to two points with a win against the Addicks tonight.

With four from their remaining five games at Montgomery Waters Meadow, boss Hurst insists his side can afford no more slip-ups in their bid to topple the more fancied duo.

“I think Jon Nolan or Shaun Whalley said it the other day and I think they’re probably right – I would say we’ve got to win them all or four and a draw to have any chance,” said the Town chief.

“If it’s not then, we’re still going to have some big games and it’s still been a fantastic season with us still in with a chance of promotion.

“We’d have all took that at the start of the season, that’s for sure, and even throughout it.

“I know we’ve been top at times, but with the points total we’re on and if we get another three or four points we’d have gone up in the last two seasons.

“But it’s a different year and ultimately the other clubs have done extremely well to amass the points they have.

“It’s unlucky, isn’t it? People will talk about the play-offs when you finish third.”

Town passed up the chance to go within two points of Rovers by drawing at Bradford last Thursday, but were boosted by Bristol Rovers’ last-gasp equaliser against Blackburn on Saturday.

“We know what the score is at the start of the season,” Hurst added. “We’ve got to get on with it. There’s no point getting the violin out and saying ‘We should’ve been promoted’. That’s not how it works.

“We went up at Grimsby after finishing fourth. There’s no complaints on my side. We know what we need to do.”

“Whatever position we finish is still a good effort and we’ll get on with it.”

Meanwhile, Hurst told the Shropshire Star there is no chance that striker Macauley Bonne will join Shrewsbury Town from Leyton Orient in the summer, as reported elsewhere.