Bernard McNally column: Strongest Shrewsbury Town XI should start against MK Dons
The Shrewsbury players should still be determined to make an impression on Paul Hurst ahead of the play-offs.
That is the way they have to view training and Saturday’s game with MK Dons.
At the same time they’ll be thinking ‘don’t do anything stupid’. Don’t be over-anxious. But prove you can be called upon.
Players should be geared up through their own enthusiasm, passion and drive. If they’re not then they shouldn’t be here.
I’m interested to see what type of team Paul lines up with against the already-relegated Dons.
If I was manager I’d want to be playing a strong side in the final league game.
But at the same time you don’t take any chances, if anybody has a slight pull or niggle or anything like that.
It is a quick turnaround moving on to the first leg away from home next Thursday, but it should still leave Town plenty of time to rest and recover.
I think he may favour his strongest side. Just to get them together again because they haven’t played together for two or three weeks in all.
That’s what I’d go with but Paul is his own man. He’s done a fantastic job this season.
Players themselves will still have an eye on the Thursday game. I think they will be in a good place physically. They’ve had a decent rest.
It’s been a long season, players do need those rests to re-charge the batteries, so it’s great if you can offer them one.
Once this weekend is out the way then it’s all on the play-offs.
It’s been tremendous this season and it would be sensational if they can cap it off.
Can they sign off the regular season on a good note on Saturday? The play-offs are all about timing. You want to go into it with confidence and arrogance blended in the right measure.
The fans will certainly be up for the semi-finals – judging by the 2,500 that went to Blackpool. Both legs could be great occasions.
Who’s beaten who and form goes right out of the window in the play-offs. People are talking about Town beating Scunthorpe twice and Charlton winning at the Meadow the other week – Paul will be saying it means nothing. At West Brom when we won the play-offs in 1993 against Port Vale, we’d been well below them on points.
They become cup games. It doesn’t matter if you’ve beaten them or lost. You can’t go in like that. It’s on the night, on the day.
That gets you through the two legs and then it’s Wembley – with all the mind-boggling things that does to Town fans about not winning there.
It was great to see Jon Nolan and Deano take home prizes on Tuesday might from the supporters’ awards.
Some players may be disappointed they didn’t get one, but the season as a whole is recognition of their work.
