Paul Hurst singles out returning Shrewsbury man for praise after Bolton draw
Shrewsbury Town boss Paul Hurst was full of praise for defender Joe Anderson after his outstanding performance in the 2-2 draw against Bolton.
The Sunderland loanee had not played for Salop since they lost to Wrexham in the FA Cup back at the start of 2024.
But he made a surprise return to the starting XI at the Toughsheet Community Stadium and produced a wonderful performance on the left of the back three.
And Hurst was delighted for Anderson revealing he got praise in the dressing at the end of the game.
He said: "I felt with Ando coming in, who was excellent by the way and Elliott Bennett just mentioned it (in the dressing room) I kind of would have said it myself if not.
"That is a kind of reward for how he has continued to train despite hardly getting a look in and tonight, I thought he defended really well.
"I thought he played some excellent balls into good spaces for people to run on to - he can be really pleased with tonight's work.
"But bringing him in, I wasn't absolutely comfortable in terms of potentially a back four with Chey (Dunkley) and another. And also we looked at a lot of the teams that have got results against Bolton and a lot of them had played a three.
"I then also felt that with the two up front maybe when we did clear a ball we had a little bit more chance of putting them under pressure rather than having that loan striker.
"It is easy stood here now saying 'Yeah it worked, brilliant' but again the players have to make it work."
