Shrewsbury Town boss Paul Hurst on hunt for defensive cover

Hurst currently has three senior centre-halves at his disposal in club captain Mat Sadler, Toto Nsiala and Zak Jules, while Junior Brown is the club’s only out-and-out left-back.

The Town chief has made no secret of wanting to add more defensive cover and, despite ‘struggling’ to bring in someone new, is keen to get something done before the August 31 deadline.

“You can never rule that out and work certainly has not finished on that,” said Hurst.

“As I have been saying for the last couple of weeks, it just seems as though we are kind of struggling to make that happen.

“While everyone is fit and healthy, that is fine.

“If we did pick an injury at the weekend, for instance, we can go and get that fixed.

“The danger is, when the window has closed you have got what you have got.”

Hurst pointed out that suspensions, injuries and dips in form are bound to hit his side at some point during the campaign, and he wants to be prepared for that.

He added: “That’s where, as a manager, you have to have a bit of forward planning and try to make sure you have that cover.

“The team is functioning well at the minute but it’s very early days and there will be injuries and changes in form. We have got to make sure we have a squad that is capable of competing, not just 11 or 12 players.”

A position in defence that Hurst is well stocked in is right-back.

James Bolton, signed from non-league Gateshead earlier this summer, has started the first two games in League One while Joe Riley is back in training after he damaging his fibula at Oxford in the final fixture of last season.

While Riley builds up his fitness to be ready for selection, Hurst has challenged Bolton to prove he is a ‘League One player’ and said: “At the minute, he’s doing extremely well.

“We’ve got Joe Riley training, not ready to push James just yet but it won’t be too far away.

“It’s still early. My advice to him would be ‘I don’t class you as a League One player yet, you haven’t played enough’.

“Hopefully, by the end of the season, that is what he becomes and he is comfortable and still doing well.”