Boss Paul Hurst staying grounded after strong start for Shrewsbury Town

Hurst’s side are one of six teams in the division to have won their opening two league games.

They have beaten Northampton Town at home and AFC Wimbledon away – both 1-0 – and the Town chief said: “It’s a long, long season. We all know that.

“It’s nice to get off to a very good start but it’s two league games.

“Overall, I think you’d be foolish to look at any league table until the absolute minimum of six games, but realistically 10 to 12 games.”

Next up for Shrewsbury is a clash with Rochdale at the Montgomery Waters Meadow on Saturday.

After that, they travel to Oxford United and Gillingham before hosting Wigan Athletic and Southend United.

“Having looked at our fixtures in a little more detail of late, if you look at the home games coming up, they’re against all teams expecting to be challenging automatically or the play-offs,” said Hurst.

“Then if you look towards the end, in the last couple of months, people would argue they’d be more winnable.

“You want to get the points on the board as soon as you can. You’re never sure how your form’s going to go.

“There will be ups and downs throughout the season but we’ve set off in the right manner.

“We’d still be rather sat on six points rather than waiting for our first win.”

Meanwhile, Hurst has spoken of the ‘good understanding’ between midfielder Jon Nolan and winger Shaun Whalley.

He added: “I think both lads got the ball in good areas at Wimbledon and perhaps could’ve produced a goal for themselves.

“They like playing with each other, at one bit in the second half it was like nobody else was on the pitch. they just wanted to pass it to each other. They have got a good understanding.”