Sacked Shrewsbury boss Paul Hurst asks hard questions of players after FA Cup defeat

Paul Hurst questioned the desire of Shrewsbury Town players in the defeat at Salford - and said they need to do the 'absolute basics' better. 

Town crashed out of the FA Cup on Saturday after a disappointing 2-1 defeat at the Peninsula Stadium to Karl Robinson's Salford team. 

Matthew Lund twice gave the home side the lead in the first half - either side of John Marquis' response - as Salford deservedly progressed to the next round of the cup. 

And Hurst, who on Sunday was sacked as Salop boss, revealed his players were angry with themselves on Saturday after the match. 

"They're obviously low. I think they're angry," the head coach said. "I think angry to a point, kind of with themselves. Like I said, it's difficult and it's easy for everyone to point fingers and have their own opinions of why things are going wrong. It's the absolute basics for me that we have to try to get back to.

"And that is winning headers, winning tackles. First half, for me, we didn't hardly win any tackles. And in certain situations, and I've seen it before, it's just you question, kind of desire.

"And that's what is hard for me to accept in terms of what you have inside yourself and what you feel and what you would love to do if you were out on that pitch. But as I said, I put the players together.

"So that's a question that I have to look at myself at and consider."

Town have gone through a really challenging first three months of the season. They sit second bottom of the League One table, and they are out of both cup competitions. 

And Hurst believes it was a missed opportunity for his players on Saturday afternoon in Greater Manchester. 

"As I said, going into it, it was an opportunity to take a bit of respite from the league before it kicks off again next weekend," he continued. "And we haven't taken that opportunity.

"I got the feeling from the fans that they've almost turned up with that intention of, you know, let's use it. It's a different day, a different competition. In one sense, it's been fortunate to have those runs because there's some clubs that, you know, would die for what the football club has enjoyed in the past. 

"The season's not just going to sort of finish and we start again. We've got to keep grinding away.

"And that's very tough at this moment in time. But you know, as myself the staff and importantly, the players, because they're the ones that take to the field, we've got to just find a way to get better, to at least give ourselves a better chance of winning games.

"Given the way Town's season is unfolding, they have a huge league clash against relegation rivals Burton Albion next weekend. Burton are bottom - but they have a massive game against Crawley Town in midweek. If they win both then Town will go bottom."