Shaun Whalley's best Shrewsbury Town season still a success despite heartache

Town’s No.7, 34, wound back the clock on his career in blue and amber with a a video interview with the club to mark his recent 250th game for Shrewsbury.

Whalley’s standout campaign for Town came during Paul Hurst’s only full season in charge, where Salop bravely pushed big-hitting Wigan and Blackburn for automatic promotion to the Championship and reached the play-off final, which ended in disappointment against Rotherham.

The winger played 58 of Shrewsbury’s mammoth 62 games this term, including 47 from 49 league games.

“We were disappointed the whole season because we kept winning every week, would look at the scores and Wigan and Blackburn had won 5-0 each,” Whalley said reflecting back on four seasons ago.

“It was hard to keep up with them but we did until right at the end.

“I was rested in a couple of games towards the end of the season, to get ready for the play-offs, which we were focusing on.

“If we’d have been asked at the start of the season would we take third place then we’d have definitely been happy, but the way the season went it was like we were destined to go up in the top two but we just couldn’t fight Wigan and Blackburn off, who were incredible that season.”

Former Southport and Luton flyer Whalley, whose 12 goals that term is his most prolific campaign at Montgomery Waters Meadow, was a right winger under Hurst and one of Town’s stand-out key combinations was his relationship with talented midfielder Jon Nolan.

Shrewsbury battled well on more than one front. They had already forced West Ham to an FA Cup third round replay but reached the EFL Trophy at Wembley for the first time in 22 years, where League Two Lincoln were the foes.

It would, of course, not be their last venture to the national stadium that term.

Whalley said of Wembley visit No.1: “We travelled down and went to look around, but the final just totally passed me by, it was gone and we were beat within the blink of an eye.

“We were disappointed but had the league to concentrate on.

“I remember Paul Hurst and (assistant) Chris Doig saying don’t let it pass you by but I definitely did, it was a scrappy game and nothing really happened. They got the ball, sat back and we couldn’t break them down.

“They were the league below, we should’ve done better.

“It would’ve been brilliant (to score) but it would’ve been nice to just win, because I don’t know what that feeling is like.”

Two of the highlights from the season were Hurst’s side confidently dispatching sixth-placed Charlton, under panto villain Lee Bowyer, away and home in the play-off semi-finals to set up a date with the Millers in a showpiece final.

“Charlton was unbelievable, everyone was so focused on winning,” Whalley added. “Rotherham played better than us and deserved to win. But it was close and went to extra-time.

“I was just fired up really, after playing there and getting beat I didn’t want to be beat again, this was the most important.

“We’d been working on that free-kick (for Alex Rodman’s equaliser), we worked on it all season and it came off.

“I was knackered it was so hot, I’d been running around for 120 minutes, I was gutted.

“I think it’s definitely a success, we’ve obviously never came that close in my time, so it has to be looked at as a success.

“It was an incredible achievement for us to finish third but it just wasn’t to be in the final.”