PAUL Hurst wants his Grimsby Town squad to keep "proving people wrong" following Saturday's superb victory at Wrexham.
After last week's pressure on Hurst prompted John Fenty to come out in support of his manager, the weekend win in North Wales was just what the doctor – or director – ordered.
Lenell John-Lewis' first-half penalty gave Town another fantastic result on the road, moving them to within four points of the play-off places.
While Hurst admits there is still plenty of work to do, he believes his side took a big step forward at the Racecourse Stadium, in front of almost 8,000 passionate home fans.
"There's obviously been some press and so on, but for me it's more about the players and getting some reward for some of their performances," he said.
"While we're not top of the league and still far from it, for me we've only been outplayed in 45 minutes of football this season (against Torquay).
"The difference is trying to convert that into results and three points.
"Saturday's result just emphasises what I keep saying – there's a good squad, a good spirit, and we'll keep battling away.
"If it's in adversity to try to prove people wrong then that's what we'll have to do."
Craig Clay limped off on Saturday and Shaun Pearson earned a one-match suspension with his fifth booking of the campaign.
However, Aswad Thomas and Nathan Arnold both continued their comebacks, and striker Jon-Paul Pittman is back in training today.
Hurst continued: "Look at how many points we've accrued and what teams above us have accrued, and some of those have had massive plaudits about how well they've started the season.
"Yet, they're certainly within striking distance for us.
"I'm sure there will be a period when we string a better set of results together, and I look forward to that.
"We're getting one or two players back as well. It's another 90 minutes under Aswad's belt, Nathan also came back in and JP is due to begin training today. So suddenly the picture looks a lot brighter in terms of our numbers."
