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Shaun Pearson reflects on first week after departure of Paul Hurst and Chris Doig

Shaun Pearson spoke for the first time since being handed the reins at Grimsby Town with fellow coach Ben Davies, reflecting on their week of preparation for the FA Cup tie with Slough Town.

The former Mariners defender, who only retired from playing at the end of last season is now leading the team alongside former teammate Davies after the club decided to part ways with Paul Hurst and Chris Doig last weekend.

While sharing his disappointment and sadness with how his former manager’s tenure came to an end, with the team languishing in 21st in the League Two table, the feelings of excitement have come through as the week has progressed for Pearson.

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He said: “Once we got through the first couple of days, it turned out to be a really good week. In all honesty, I’ve loved it and I think the lads have responded really well in terms of what we’ve tried to get across to them and hopefully, that will be shown on Sunday.

“Of course, I was disappointed for Paul and Chris, and I don’t think there was anyone currently at the club who had a closer relationship with them than I did and nobody wanted them to be successful more than I would have.

“At the same time, the opportunity is there now for me to step in and I’m obviously looking forward to seeing what we can do with the players and the team overall in the next game or two or for however long we’re in charge.”

It seems the club have banded together at this time of change, and with chairman Jason Stockwood not ruling out Pearson and Davies’ candidacy for the permanent managerial role, it is a genuine chance for the pair to prove their worth.

There is no doubt that Grimsby’s lower league opponents in Slough will be right up for the test on Sunday playing on home turf which will provide a unique challenge that the FA Cup can often provide.

Overall though, Pearson is “hopeful” that the collaborative effort that has been put in this week by the remaining coaching team will pay off in the team’s performance this weekend.

He added: “It is probably a reflection of modern football in general in the sense that it is becoming more of a collective effort within the coaching team and with the staff we have got here I think we’re really fortunate.

“I think we’ve got some really good people in important positions and we’re pulling on each other’s experiences and skillsets to try and set the leads up properly for this weekend and beyond to the best of our ability.

“We’re hopeful that we’ll see what we’ve seen so far in training this week which has been very good. There have definitely been some ideas that we wanted to put into the squad but a week is not a huge amount of time to get those things across, but we’re still hopeful.”

Original story at https://www.grimsbytelegraph.co.uk/sport/

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