Midfielder Paul Murray has called on the fans to remain positive – insisting Shrewsbury Town remain firmly in the automatic promotion picture as they prepare for Saturday’s home clash with Notts County.
Much travelled Murray, who has played top flight football in England, Scotland and Portugal, believes Town are in the hunt for a top three spot in League Two despite collecting just a point from their last three games, stressing: “We’re all working towards promotion.”
Now he wants the Prostar Stadium faithful to do their bit, admitting he was surprised how sections of the home support responded to Tuesday’s 1-1 draw against fellow high fliers Exeter.
“I got the feeling that the fans were actually waiting for us to concede and waiting for us to lose,” said the experienced Murray.
“That was my opinion on it, which isn’t very good, but that’s the way I thought the feeling was around the ground.
“We’re trying as hard as anyone and I thought we deserved to win.
“Coming off two defeats it’s difficult but we worked hard. We’re all gutted that we didn’t win but the work rate was there.”
Murray believes the performance against Exeter was a step in the right direction and that Town, who are a point outside the play-off spots, remain well placed to mount a strong push over the last 11 games of the season.
“We’re on 53 points and last season the club ended with 48 points,” he said. “All right, we’ve brought Holty in for money, but we’re not the biggest spenders in this league by a long way.
“There are clubs in this league that have spent far more money than we have, and that’s a fact.
“We’ve obviously spent our money on Holty and everyone thinks that because we’ve signed him, we’re going to be an unbelievable team. Let’s get our expectations about right.
“We’re progressing nicely, as far as I’m concerned anyway. We’re still in the picture and we’re all trying to get promoted together.
“We want to get automatic promotion, for sure we do, and if we aim for that and fail to get it then the play-offs are the next best step.”
The former QPR and England B international added: “There are 11 games to go including a lot of home games so we’ve still got to be positive. We all want our away form to pick up.
“If we win our remaining home games and pick up a few results away you just never know, but we’re striving for automatic promotion.”
Murray felt one of the big positives to emerge in midweek was the sight of top scorer Grant Holt notching his 23rd goal of the season after failing to sore in his previous five games. “It was nice to get Holty back on the scoresheet,” he said.
“Some people are catching him for league goals and I see that MacDonald of Brentford scored again on Tuesday, but it was nice to see Holty get a goal and his confidence will be up as well so that’s good for everyone.”
Murray added this was an exciting time for everyone connected with the club, being part of a promotion push, with the stage set for an absorbing couple of months.
“I’m enjoying it,” he said. “We’re all going in the right direction, the fans should realise that as well.
“Everyone at the club’s working their socks off, we’re doing double training sessions here, there and everywhere and we’re all working towards promotion.
“Some games aren’t going to go the way you want, that’s unfortunate, but you have to back your team.”
Town hit the road on Tuesday as they travel to Aldershot (7.45pm).