Shrewsbury Town boss Paul Hurst said his side must not become “a hard-luck story” in League One this season.

After a summer of significant changes to the squad, including the arrival of 15 players, Town have struggled to find their form at the start of the campaign.

Saturday’s defeat by Charlton Athletic was Shrewsbury’s fifth in six games so far, with their only win coming against Leyton Orient.

It has left them next to bottom of the table having played a game more than the six teams closest to them.

“The performance in general [against Charlton] warranted at least a point,” Hurst told BBC Radio Shropshire.

“I thought we were the better team first half but we lost to a set-play.

“At the other end I think we’ve had enough chances – some might say not clear-cut – but a lot of good delivery and three or four headers.”

Hurst, who returned to the club for a second spell in January, five and a half years after leaving for Ipswich Town, said in the build-up to the new campaign he was “very comfortable” with people tipping Shrewsbury for relegation after finishing 19th last term and would use it as “motivation”.

But he said he knows things have to start improving.

“A big part of me just wants that result. The players do now,” he said.

“The last few years have been about performance above results with the idea being you keep getting performances, you get the results.

“I’m conscious of that but, as a group, we want that result for everyone – the fans, chairman as well as ourselves.

“I said to the players what we don’t want, and what we can’t become, is a hard-luck story.

“Some people will accept what I’m saying and some will see the result and that will be their sole outcome of the game and I get it – we don’t want to keep losing games.”

Shrewsbury, in their 10th straight season in League One, visit Mansfield Town in their next game on Saturday.