Friendships playing big role in Shrewsbury Town success, says Toto Nsiala

Town are top of the pile, yet to lose this season, and are fresh off a 4-0 thrashing of Bristol Rovers on Tuesday.

Centre-half Nsiala, aged 25, insists he and his team-mates are thoroughly enjoying themselves.

“There is a massive buzz about the place,” he said.

“There is always banter and people enjoying themselves, and that’s what you need.

“Even if we weren’t top of the league, I think it would be the same – we would still be enjoying the place.

“You’ve got to be able to get on, to like your team-mates.

“If something has not gone right on the pitch, you can’t go and dig someone out.”

For Nsiala, his Town team-mates are not just that – he considers them all good friends.

“We help each other out – I could go for a meal with any of these lads and get on really well,” he said.

“There’s no groups, we just all get on.”

It has been quite a whirlwind 12 months for Nsiala. This time last year, he was part of a Hartlepool United side which was scraping around at the bottom of League Two.

He joined Salop in January, having previously worked under boss Paul Hurst at Grimsby Town, and has been a mainstay in the side since.

They say time flies when you are having fun and, on whether his time at the club so far has gone quickly, he said: “It has a lot. The off season flew, really – I was dying to get back and carry on from where we left off.

“Towards the end of last season, as a team and a club we improved – and now we have come a long way. I was lucky enough that the manager believed in me. I was happy it was happening (joining Shrewsbury) – it was exciting.”

Nsiala, like everyone in the camp, has only good things to say about Hurst.

The Congolese defender feels the fact that Hurst was a player himself not so long ago, spending nearly all his career at Rotherham United, helps him understand the needs of the squad.

“It’s what he gets out of players, his man-management,” said Nsiala.

“The standards he sets you, if he believes in you he gets the best out of you. We just get on, he understands me and I understand him.

“You can just pull him to one side and have a conversation with him, he’ll understand.

“He understands what players go through and what they need sometimes, it is good to have someone you can have a chat with.”

Town head into tomorrow’s clash against Fleetwood Town having never been beaten them before – losing four and drawing three of their seven meetings.

He hopes to end the winless run against the Cod Army, but knows it will be far from straightforward. “There are no easy game at all in this league,” he said.

“We played Plymouth Argyle who are bottom last week and got a 1-1 draw, but we could have easily lost that game as well.

“There’s no easy games, you have to adapt and that’s what we’ll have to do again.”

On if they can have a similar showing to Tuesday, he added: “Anything is possible. We will all be hoping for the same standards and same work ethic – we will try.”