By Hugo Varley
Last night's draw at Northampton left some Shrewsbury fans anxiously looking over their shoulders. Shrewsbury currently sit in 2nd place in the League One table, occupying the final automatic promotion spot. However, Paul Cook's Wigan side sit just four points behind the Shrews and have three games in hand over Shrewsbury.
After narrowly avoiding relegation last season, Paul Hurst's Shrewsbury have been the surprise package in League One this campaign, racking up an impressive 22 wins and only conceding 28 goals in their 37 league games. This excellent record has been helped in no small part by the impressive performances of goalkeeper Dean Henderson, with the Manchester United loanee keeping 13 clean sheets in the league this season.
At the other end of the pitch Stefan Payne, Shaun Whalley, and Jon Nolan have weighed in with ten, nine and eight league goals respectively, while Whalley's 14 assists have also been crucial in the Shrews' remarkable rise up the League One table this season.
In their final nine games Shrewsbury face a mixed bag of teams, coming up against relegation threatened AFC Wimbledon, Rochdale, Bury but also facing promotion chasing Peterbrough and Charlton. Hurst's side will also have to deal with the potential distraction of the Checkatrade Trophy Final, when they come up against League Two side Lincoln City at Wembley on April 8th.
Following last night's disappointing draw at Sixfields Hurst told the Shropshire Star, “If people want to write us off then I can't do anything about it. All I would say is that we'll keep battling away and make it interesting.”…. it certainly promises to be an exciting few months ahead for Shrewsbury fans.
