Shrewsbury Town hopes rising on Ben Godfrey fitness
Ben Godfrey has a chance of answering Paul Hurst’s midfield SOS call for Shrewsbury Town at Rochdale tomorrow.
The central midfielder, on loan from Norwich, has recovered well from the hamstring injury he picked up 12 days ago at Scunthorpe.
The 20-year-old has missed subsequent clashes at Northampton and against AFC Wimbledon – Town have also made do without fellow midfielder and skipper Abu Ogogo for the latter.
And with Bryn Morris also serving a one-game suspension for the Good Friday trip to Spotland, Hurst has received a timely boost by the possible availability of Godfrey.
“He’s better,” the Town boss said. “I think it is in the balance as to whether he’ll make it (Rochdale). “He’s got a chance – that’s positive. We’ve just got to make sure he is right. There’s no way that we will risk him if we feel there’s any danger of a relapse.”
Godfrey has made 40 appearances for Hurst’s table-toppers this season and is a firm favourite with the Town faithful.
His absence, alongside that of matchday skipper Ogogo, forced Hurst into a change of system that worked in last weekend’s victory over the Dons.
The boss remained coy as to whether a 4-4-2 system would be repeated at Spotland, where Shrewsbury are set to take a boosted Easter following of more than 530 fans.
Hurst admitted he was not ‘overly enamoured’ by how the system worked. His side have flown to the top of League One this season with a variation of a 4-1-4-1/4-3-3 formation.
He added: “We all saw last week it wasn’t our best performance in a lot of ways. There were a lot of good parts in terms of a resilient point of view and a sheer determination to win the game.
“The start of the second half when we were on the front foot and creating chances we took advantage when we needed to.
“The system itself, I wasn’t overly enamoured with it, but it got the job done.
“Ultimately if you’ve got certain choices or selections available then you have to go with what you feel is best.”
“That was the reasoning last week, will it be the same? You’ll have to wait and see.”
Meanwhile, Town have revealed season ticket sales are up 30 per cent on the same time last year.
