Former skipper James Plant is poised to make a timely return for Shrewsbury as they resume their battle to scramble clear of the Midlands Three West (North) relegation zone at Dixonians on Saturday.
Plant has not featured for the Sundorne Castle men since facing Stafford in the early weeks of the season but is now scheduled to make his long-awaited comeback.
“We’ve missed both James and Paul Bolland owing to injuries this season so it’s good to have one of them back,” said Shrewsbury captain Mattie Morris.
“James needs a knee operation but hopefully he’ll have that in the summer.
“We’ve actually got a welcome selection headache this weekend as we’ve got at least five quality backs available.”
Neil Davies is also ready to return after a few weeks on the unavailable list – just as well as Will Macken is ruled out this weekend – while Steve Owen has recovered from a wrist injury.
But Andrew Swann and John Wareham miss out once again as they are both still injured.
Shrewsbury have lost all three league games since resuming their league campaign after Christmas, a sequence Morris knows it’s important to halt at Dixonians.
“They beat us 19-13 at home earlier in the season but we didn’t play very well that day,” he said.
“They’ve had some mixed results but are still fifth. They might look at our last two league results and take us lightly as we’ve been stuffed.
“But hopefully with the players we’ve got back and the way we know we can play, we can make it a winnable game.”
SHREWSBURY 1st XV (from): B. Jenkins, N. Challinor, N. Williams, T. Davies, G. Adams, S. Owen, R. Hodnett, S. Evitts, G. Daniels, S, Wycherley, J. Plant, N. Davies, M. Morris, S. Barnett, W Jones, M. Edwards, J. Adams, J. Pugh, I. Bussey.
Third-bottom Whitchurch are also in desperate need of points to ease their relegation fears in Midlands Two West ahead of Saturday’s tough home game against Solihull.