Comment: A Shrewsbury Town season to remember just runs on and on

Every other footballer not involved in the play-offs has already jetted out to every corner of the globe in search of some R&R after the toils of a long season.

For the odds-defining, history-making heroes in blue and amber at Shrewsbury Town, 61 matches have gone and one more remains. The biggest. The one that can make them legends.

But ask any of Paul Hurst’s squad and they would rather be here, in the unpredictable British spring, preparing for a career-defining 90 minutes.

Hurst’s men are enjoying some brief down time until training resumes later this week and it is full speed Wembley. Town will be training and preparing with the intensity they did for the curtain-raiser against Northampton on August 5.

Nobody in their right minds would have dared suggest a double Wembley visit would be on the cards. It really is the stuff of dreams for a fanbase that can scarcely believe what has unfolded in front of them.

Sixty one matches means that no professional club in England have played more domestic fixtures than Town this season.

Yet there was no weariness in 180 massive minutes against Charlton. Quite the opposite, Shrewsbury were so much fitter, organised – and generally better with the football.

You would not expect weariness as Town’s stars had a decent break during the remaining four league games. That is credit to the manager. Hurst got his build-up plan spot on.

Many questioned his approach. Hurst admitted that call was not foolproof but he trusted his thought process and experience.

It paid off.

I suggested in a comment piece in between the two legs that it was time for belief in the stands.

That was absolutely evident at Montgomery Waters Meadow in a quite stunning setting on Sunday evening.

Many of my peers in the press box, some of who have covered the club across many decades, suggested they had never heard or felt an atmosphere like it at the Oteley Road stadium.

The noise that greeted both sets of players was deafening. There was no edginess from the crowd. Even when Charlton upped the ante early on.

As relentless Shrewsbury had way too much for the dumbstruck Addicks in the second half the excitement levels multiplied and the decibel levels rose.

There was a sense inside the stadium that little old Shrewsbury were on the verge of a memorable moment.

Carlton Morris’ fine goal was the eruption moment. Stunning sound from three sides of the stadium while the other fell quiet.

And the scenes at full-time were fitting as Hurst and his troops descended out on to the balcony, shortly followed by the chairman, and enjoyed the adulation. They all deserved it, and Hurst knew that. A team to have stood tall among giants this season.