Stefan hoping to ease the pain by going one better with Shrewsbury Town

Town endured more Wembley heartbreak last Sunday as they missed out on a place in the Championship by losing 2-1 against Rotherham after extra-time.

A turbulent 48 hours or so for the Montgomery Waters Meadow club then saw Paul Hurst granted permission to speak with Ipswich Town and, on Wednesday morning, confirmed as the new Portman Road chief.

Shrewsbury played 62 games last season, losing at Wembley twice and, despite spending more than 200 days in League One’s top two, finished third and crashed to play-off misery.

Top scorer Payne, with 14 goals, believes Town’s season warranted more.

When asked for a message to the supporters, he replied: “They’ve been brilliant throughout the whole season. To the ones that travelled down, thank you. And again, we’re going to push on one better and go get promotion’.

“Right now it’s hard to put it into words. I’m gobsmacked.”

Payne believes Town warranted a place in the Championship alongside Wigan and Blackburn.

He continued: “It’s been a long season but in football you don’t always get what you deserve.

“I don’t think we got what we deserved. We deserve to be promoted up there with Wigan and Blackburn. It wasn’t to be.

“It’s heart-breaking after the season we’ve had. It’s quite hard to put it into words really.

“We’ve got to keep going. It’s football at the end of the day. We can keep our heads held high, we’ve done well for ourselves.

“But it really counts for nothing because we’re back in League One next year.”

Macclesfield manager John Askew is in pole position to replace Hurst. Ex-Livingston boss David Hopkin has also been linked.

Payne conceded Town’s squad face a challenging summer in overcoming the Wembley setback.

“You’re not going to get over this, even in two or three years time you’re going to think back to playing at Wembley and losing,” he added.

“That’s what it boils down to. It’s hard to put it into words right now. We’re just all devastated.”