Paul Hurst explains controversial Shrewsbury decision following loss

The 20-year-old has had a good start to life in Shropshire and he got his first assist in his last start - the 3-0 home win against Leyton Orient.

But he dropped out of the starting XI last weekend in Town's derby clash at Wrexham before coming on just after the hour mark.

And this weekend, as Salop lost at home to Charlton, he did not manage to make it onto the pitch at all.

And the Shrews head coach has explained why he did not bring him off the bench.

Hurst said: "Well, we obviously did not start him, and if I am honest, the lads who came on to the pitch were more at the forefront of my mind.

"We needed a goal, and what I would say, and I know he will want to be in the team, but if he is coming off the bench, I don't feel he has had a particularly great impact when he has come on the pitch from the bench.

"So that is something that he will have to improve on. It is clear in my mind that the last time we were here Tom Bloxham came on and scored a couple of goals.

"It did not happen today, it is not always going to happen, but that was the reason for that."

O'Reilly's preferred position is on the right side of midfield, where Alex Gilliead played on this occasion.

And Hurst said his selections for the clash would have had that much impact on the result.

"As he showed in the game he ended up playing three positions," the boss continued when asked about Gilliead's selection.

"He is comfortable in all of those, I spoke about him playing in the middle more recently, but I thought Funso really grew into the game and showed his fitness.

"I have spoken about it for an older player in the squad, the way that he looks after himself, his fitness levels are excellent and he was still going strong at the end of the game.

"For me, the start with Winni in there as well it gives us good options. As I have said before you need a squad, you cannot just have 11 players.

"If you win the game, nothing is really said, if you lose the game, your decisions are questioned. I kind of get it, but I don't think it was anything to do with who was on the pitch and who was out of the pitch."

And the Town head coach explained that Gilliead has good experience and understanding of the game.

"I think he has got more of a defensive mind than some of those other players," he said. "I think part of that comes with experience and understanding the game we spoke about people being football bright and I think Alex is.

"He understands the game in general probably better than a couple of the other lads in truth at this stage of their careers. On a personal level, I was more than happy with what Alex did for the team in that position."