Even after four Wembley defeats in four trips in the club’s history, the latest coming as recently as last month, the Shrewsbury boss remains positive.
“I always try and look at things in a different way and the law of averages suggests it could be our turn,” he told Sky Sports. “They’re talking about lifting some kind of curse around here but you’ve still got to earn the right to win.”
Sunday’s Sky Bet League One play-off final against Rotherham will be Hurst’s third Wembley involvement with Shrewsbury.
Last month he was the losing manager in the Checkatrade Trophy final against Lincoln, while he was on the winning side for Rotherham against the Shrews in the same competition in 1996.
“I’ve become very fond of this club but I’ve only been involved in one of those experiences as a manager and one as a player that actually beat Shrewsbury! But that doesn’t count for too much for me,” he said.
“It’s about what happens on the day and we’ve got to perform to give ourselves the best chance. Hopefully that will be good enough.”
Shrewsbury’s points haul at the end of the season would have been enough to secure automatic promotion in most other years, but in the end they couldn’t keep up with the relentless pace of Wigan and Blackburn.
There is, however, no suggestion of ill-feeling from Hurst. He is mindful of their pre-season expectations and sees finishing third as a triumph, rather than a case of what might have been.