How Shrewsbury Town can move forward after Wembley heartbreak
Shrewsbury Town reporter Lewis Cox takes a look at what Paul Hurst may want to take forward from his side's disappointing Checkatrade Trophy defeat to Lincoln City at Wembley.
1Need for more consistency
For 10 minutes in either half at Wembley Paul Hurst’s men played the kind of football that has got them to the top of League One this season and Lincoln were unable to handle their opponents.
Yes, Town failed to find the net or the final touch but on another day decisions would have gone their way or luck been on their side. The kind of football that Town played at the beginning of the game and the second half needs to be reproduced consistently across 90 minutes. If they do that then they should have enough to succeed in their final six league games.
2 Interesting midfield reshuffle
Bryn Morris replaced Abu Ogogo in the midfield role and was heavily involved.
The former England youth skipper has only featured in a more unfavoured deep-lying midfield position this season but in replacing Ogogo he has the opportunity to play more advanced and get forward to help Shrewsbury attack.
He has still not scored for Town but you would expect that drought to end if Wembley is anything to go by. He struck the bar with a magnificent strike before having a goalbound effort cleared almost off the line in the second period.
3 Turning disappointment into a positive
Town staff, players and fans were rightly distraught after yet another Wembley defeat but there is no way that Shrewsbury should let this derail what has been a phenomenal season.
There is a quick turnaround for league action with a trip to Valley Parade on Thursday and absolutely no time for Shrews to feel sorry for themselves or analyse what went wrong on a day where they were out-thought.
Post-match comments from the manager and players about how Lincoln’s success will spur them on were encouraging.
4 Individuals will want to respond
There were a handful of players – or perhaps even more – that did not do themselves justice on the big, national occasion at Wembley.
Nathan Thomas, Carlton Morris and James Bolton had afternoons where they were below the high levels they have all set this season, but they were not alone and joined by most of their team-mates.
Hurst said players needed to go home and take a long, hard look at themselves – hopefully that will spur them on to righting what went wrong in the capital on Sunday.
5 Giving fans something else to cheer
The 12,000 or so Salopians that made the trip south made great noise and competed with the Imps faithful, who more than doubled them in number.
Unfortunately the blue and amber army were given little to get excited about by the players and, as the afternoon wore on, it began to feel like ‘another one of those Wembley disappointments’ for Salop.
Town fans have been absolutely spoiled this season but there is still time for Hurst’s men to crank up their performance levels further still and complete the final chapters of an extraordinary season.
