Dave Edwards: Paul Hurst looks the right man to bring Shrewsbury together

Shrewsbury were spiralling a little bit towards that relegation zone and momentum is a really difficult thing to shift. It was the right decision to make a change and definitely the right decision for Hurst to come in.

He has the ability to get the best reaction out of the players. It’s almost a quick fix, just to make sure they are safe this season, and then move into next season and rebuild.

I also felt the majority of the fans would like Hurst back. Naturally, when you bring a football club together like that, better things happen. Getting the fans onside and excited again, it made sense for Hurst to come back in. He knows the football club.

And he certainly got that reaction with a convincing away performance at Northampton. It was the best away performance of the season and probably one of the best displays of the season overall.

He hasn’t had a lot of time on the training ground to make things work, so it’s testament to him, his staff and the players.

The obvious difference was the formation as they flipped to a 4-3-3, which is Hurst’s preferred way of playing. Town recruited for 3-5-2, but this formation change proves who will be making the footballing decisions.

It allowed Shrewsbury to make some subtle changes. They were a lot better at pressing higher up the pitch.

Having wingers on the pitch providing more width in attacking areas, meant Town could create a lot easier with supporting full-backs. There was more control in the final third and better quality.

Playing Carl Winchester in holding midfield really helped Town. They haven’t passed the ball well this year because they haven’t been able to link it through midfield.

Having Winchester in there, someone who is more of a ball player, they definitely used him a lot better, passed the ball better and retained it well.

Those were the key things where I saw drastic improvement and that was only from a few days of training.

I thought Shrewsbury were very strong down their left side. Mal Benning has got better with recent performances and he worked really well with Jordan Shipley.

Shipley is very creative and that was a big positive for Town.

Tom Bayliss, who has struggled for form this season with injury problems, thrived playing more centrally and with more freedom.

He had the licence to drift into different pockets and that’s the best I’ve seen him play in a long time.

That’s a big positive. In the squad, Bayliss has the most natural ability to create, so if we can get him in the team and playing consistently, he will get into areas to hurt teams.

Dan Udoh’s goal was excellent and it was great to see him back fit. His effort zipped off the surface and was off the back of a long passing move, which we haven’t really seen.

Chey Dunkley is dangerous off set-pieces and finished the game off nicely. It’s all set up now for Shrewsbury to kick on, get a few more wins and make sure they don’t get dragged into a relegation fight.