Paul Hurst hails Shrewsbury's 'mental strength' following Oldham victory
Boss Paul Hurst has heaped praise on Shrewsbury Town for digging in deep to make it to the Checkatrade Trophy semi finals.
Town beat League One rivals Oldham Athletic 2-1 at the Montgomery Waters Meadow - their eighth game in just 25 days.
An early Stefan Payne strike and a late Alex Rodman goal came either side of Aaron Holloway netting for the visitors, with Salop now just a win away from Wembley.
"When things are going great, you feel that bit more energised - that little bit better," said Hurst.
"When you start misplacing passes, it's very easy to sort of feel a bit more tired than you actually are. That's where mental strength comes in.
"We've got some lads that will be tired - there's no two ways about that. We are, that's fact.
"When you cross that white line, though, you have to somehow find it in you to go again.
"They showed character, they dug in. Now it's about resting up as much as possible."
Soon after Holloway equalised for the Latics, Town struggled to keep the ball and some of the home fans voiced their frustrations.
And Hurst urged those supporters not to repeat getting on the players' backs when things are not going quite right.
"I'm a little bit upset at one or two things I heard from the crowd - probably for the first time," he said.
"I don't like that, at all. I'll stick up for my players all day long and those couple of people saying things need to remember where we were, and where we are now.
"It is only one or two, but I think it needs to be brought up.
"You need the fans when things aren't going great, that encouragement.
"All I ask is to remember these lads are giving everything, stick with them. They don't need to hear any negativity."
The draw for the semi finals takes place on Thursday.
Chelsea Under-23s and Lincoln City will be in that draw, with the final spot going to either Yeovil Town or Fleetwood Town.
Hurst added: "We can see on the side we're not playing exactly we'd like.
"You start thinking about penalties as it's so late in the day, but we got the winner.
"It was nice not to have to go through with penalties as you never what's going to happen.
"We're 90 minutes away from the national stadium, that's what we wanted."
