Shrewsbury need to relax in bid to overcome Charlton, says Paul Hurst

Third-placed Town's remarkable 46-game League One campaign boils down to 180 minutes against the former Premier League Addicks at The Valley on Thursday evening and at Montgomery Waters Meadow on Sunday.

The battle with counterpart Lee Bowyer will make it a seventh play-off tussle in ten seasons as a manager for Hurst.

And while the Town chief – whose side brought the curtain down on the regulatory season with a 1-0 defeat to MK Dons on Saturday – will make his players fully aware of the stakes, he believes his players will be at their best without nerves.

"You just speak to individuals really, to make sure they're aware of the importance of the game," said Hurst, whose rivals Charlton confirmed sixth place with a 1-0 final day loss at Rochdale, that kept the Dale up.

"But they've got to go into it with an element of being relaxed still. If they don't then they'll play with nerves, fear, trepidation that won't be helpful.

"Are they in the right mindset? You'd have to say they are – or they will be.

"Because ultimately, how hard they've worked, going right back to the end of June, through July, it's a lot of effort these lads have put in to get ourselves in a position we could only have dreamed of at the beginning."

MK Dons ended their six-game losing run as Kieran Agard's penalty, after Toto Nsiala fouled the Dons man, proved the difference.

But it did not dampen the vibrant atmosphere at the Meadow as Town fans gave the players – as the regular season came to a close – the well-deserved send off.

Hurst, whose side have kept just one clean sheet in nine games, added: "I've got so much respect. I can't speak highly enough of them. They know what I'm like and they know what messages will be going out there.

"But we can't be down on them at all, in all honesty. Let's hope we can still pull off those shocks that we need to do to be successful.

"In terms of being in the right end of the leagues, being ready for big games and all that, I don't mean it in a big-headed way but it doesn't faze me at all.

"I know what we need to try and do."