David Hunt this week set his sights on improving his Shrewsbury Town goal tally ahead of Saturday’s trip to Notts County – revealing his stunning effort against Macclesfield had come after he had been “eaten up” by a missed opportunity during the previous week’s defeat at Rotherham.
The ex-Northampton and Leyton Orient midfielder, whose stunning strike helped Town to an accomplished 2-0 victory over the Silkmen last weekend, has enjoyed a win and a draw in his two previous appearances at County’s plush 20,300 all-seater Meadow Lane stadium.
And, with confidence in the Town camp boosted after they produced their best display of the season to beat Macclesfield, Hunt will be gunning for more goals as he looks to help push his side towards the upper reaches of the League Two table.
Delighted to grab his second goal of the season, Hunt – who has shown he is capable of unleashing some tremendously powerful shots – is now keen to weigh in on a more consistent basis.
“I had a chance to shoot at Rotherham the week before and didn’t so that had been eating me up and the gaffer had a word about it,” said the Londoner. “The only way to put it right was by scoring and hopefully I’ll get a few more now.”
Hunt, meanwhile, sees no reason why Town’s results should not start to pick up in the aftermath of Saturday’s welcome victory. “We’ve had a blip, we all know that, and now we want to correct it,” he said. “We know we’ve got the players here to do well, we showed that earlier in the season, and the potential is certainly here.
“We knew we needed a good result against Macclesfield last week and we made sure we got the job done. The gaffer changed the formation (to 3-5-2) and I think it suited us very well as we played some really good football at times.”
Hunt is looking forward to meeting up with County’s big striker Jason Lee, a former Northampton team-mate, and he travels to Nottingham aware the Magpies, who are in the bottom six, will be desperate for a result after losing their last four games.
That poor run includes three successive 1-0 defeats on home soil, one of them at the hands of non-League Havant & Waterlooville in the FA Cup second round. “They’re having a bad run so hopefully we can hit them at a good time,” he said. “Their ground is always a nice one to play at.
“We’ve got some tough games coming up over the Christmas period but it’s a good time to pick up points as the games come so quickly, and we’ll be in the right mindset for it.”
Hunt added the return to fitness of midfield playmaker Ben Davies had also given everyone at the club a big lift, and he’s pleased to have the chance to finally play alongside a player he rates highly.
“I’ve been waiting for Ben to come back and he’s one of the reasons I came here,” he revealed. “I knew that other clubs were after him when he came to Shrewsbury so it reflected the club’s ambition. He’s been in the gym every day and has worked really hard to get back.”
Boss Gary Peters was at Meadow Lane to watch County’s losing run continue with a 1-0 reversal against Peterborough on Tuesday.
“They were a lot better than they were on Saturday, that’s how their fans were talking,” said Peters. “The law of averages says they’re going to win a game sometime, but let’s hope it’s not against us.
“We need to get into them early and make sure we cause them problems.”