Town boss wants to draw a line under ‘freakish’ stat

But that is the way it has fallen for Shrewsbury Town this season, as it has very much been a case of all or nothing.

Salop head to Derby today to take on the Rams having drawn the fewest games in the division, while winning the most of any side in the bottom half of the league table.

Speaking ahead of the game at Pride Park, Town’s head coach Paul Hurst did admit it is a statistic he and Chris Doig (assistant coach) are aware of, but that is a little ‘freakish’.

“We have talked about it, me and Chris,” Hurst said.

“We have also spoken to the chairman about it, and we actually spoke to the players on Thursday.

“It is a bit freakish, but I am also not overly concerned as in I am not going to go and change that, but it does seem a little odd.

“You would expect to draw more games. We could flip it, it depends which way you look at it, and say maybe some of those wins could have been draws.

“There are always two sides to it, but I do think we have got to turn some of those losses into draws and then the position in the table may not look loads different, but it is certainly more positive, and we want to be hard to beat.”

Town have won 10 games but lost 17 so far this season, and while they try to win every time they play, Hurst admits if they cannot achieve their initial goal, then they must then make sure they take something from the game.

“We want to try and win every game that we go into, and that will be no different on Saturday,” he continued.

“It does not matter who we are playing. No one has said it about Saturday but it would not surprise me if someone said is it a bit of a free hit.

“I don’t like that phrase. It is a game of football, they are in our league. We know the resources they have, but we are going there to compete.

“We go into the game to win it, but if we don’t win it then the next best thing is to take something from it.

“That has got to be the ambition, the desire and the message from us is that, and that is every game.

“Last Saturday, I am not comfortable in moving on from the fact that we lost but we have got to become hard to beat and that has got to be the starting point.

“It has looked like, for whatever reason it has been a little bit too easy to fall on the wrong side of the result.”

Town head to Pride Park today looking to bounce back from their disappointing defeat to Cambridge last time out.

Results in midweek increase the pressure on Hurst’s Shrewsbury as they are just three points away from the relegation zone.

But this game against Derby and then the visit of Barnsley to the Croud Meadow on Tuesday evening will not be easy.