Paul Hurst hails 'outstanding' Shrewsbury Town performance
Boss Paul Hurst has hailed Shrewsbury Town's 'outstanding attacking play' after thrashing Bristol Rovers 4-0 at the Montgomery Waters Meadow.
Goals from Alex Rodman, Carlton Morris, Jon Nolan and Junior Brown all came in a fantastic first half.
Town have now gone 14 games unbeaten in League One this season, and are back at the top of the table.
"It was one of the few nights where, with 20 minutes to go, you could relax," said Hurst.
"I wanted that clean sheet and we did that.
"There was some outstanding attacking play – we passed the ball better, kept it much better, the desire without the ball was better.
"We upped our levels again and got our rewards. It was, realistically, a comfortable night."
The big victory came after two draws on their travels – both 1-1, at Plymouth Argyle this past weekend and Walsall before that.
Hurst felt all of his players performed very well, but reserved praise for goalkeeper Dean Henderson, who started off the move for the first goal, and midfielders Shaun Whalley, Rodman and Nolan.
"Bristol Rovers started off OK, there was not loads in the game," he said.
"We scored a good goal, starting with Deano and then setting Shaun off to set up Alex.
"I thought those two and Nolo – not taking anything away from the others – proved a real handful."
Rodman and Morris, who got the first two goals, came back into the starting XI after beginning on the bench at Plymouth.
On bringing them back in, Hurst said: "I think there were a few lads who needed a bit of a kick up the backside, a little reminder.
"I think we got a response from a couple and a few who stayed in the team were more back to their best.
"The first 65 minutes or so was very good from us, we passed the ball well and looked a threat."
On whether that was the best first half performance he has seen from Town, Hurst added: "It'd have to be, for scoring that amount of goals.
"The second half, the message was not to concede and make sure we got a clean sheet, which we managed to do as well.
"We just want to continue. If we can put anything like that performance in, we are all going to enjoy watching the team."
