Carl Winchester feeling the love in third season at Shrewsbury Town

The 31-year-old signed on loan from Sunderland initially on deadline day in September 2022. And after his contract ran out with the Black Cats, he was signed permanently by former Shrews boss Matt Taylor last summer.

Winchester says it is a ‘privilege’ to wear the captain’s armband.

He said: “It is crazy. At this level, you don’t really see players stay at clubs for long because there is such a big turnover of players.

“But look, I have come here and loved it ever since I arrived. It has been brilliant and the club has been nothing but great for me, so it is good to be able to reward them with going out on a Saturday and giving me all.

“This season I am captain and that is a huge privilege for me.

“It is one of those, for a club you want to go out there and give your all, and the club just appreciates what you are doing for them really.

“From when I first came here the turnover of players has just been massive but it is one of those things.

“I am still here, and still happy to be here, and as long as I am here I will give everything for the shirt.”

Winchester and Salop have had a difficult start to their League One campaign after losing their opening two fixtures. They fell to a 1-0 loss at the Lamex Stadium against Stevenage before letting four goals in against Peterborough United as they lost 4-1.

Town head to Huddersfield this weekend, a side who have beaten both of the two sides Shrews have lost to, and have just been relegated from the Championship.

On paper, it is one of the toughest games of the season for Hurst’s men, and after a difficult start, Winchester has said they need to ‘stick to together’. “We cannot finish a game off the way we did,” he said about the game against Posh.

“I know once you go a goal down you throw on those attacking players and the game might become a bit stretched, they have played in their team who are really good and they took their chances.

“We cannot feel sorry for ourselves, we know it is a tough task, but we need to stick together.”

There was only one positive at the weekend, and that was Winchester scoring his first Salop goal.

He had played for Shrewsbury 84 times in blue and amber in the league without scoring until Saturday when he smashed it into the back of the net from distance.

“I love playing for this club so to get a goal finally I was buzzing to hit the back of the net,” he continued.

“My daughter and partner were in the crowd as they know how much I wanted to score for this club.”