Boss Paul Simpson is ready to ring the changes in the wake of Shrewsbury Town’s FA Cup exit at Blyth Spartans – insisting it’s opened the door for others as he aims to get back on track at Chesterfield tomorrow night (Friday, 7.30pm).
Victory at Saltergate would lift Town to the top of the League Two table, albeit for probably less than 24 hours, with Simpson promising to freshen things up after last weekend’s miserable afternoon in the north east.
He’s also refusing to rule out the possibility of an addition to the squad after losing the services of Gylfi Sigurdsson, recalled by Reading this week after a month’s loan spell (see page 79).
“There will be changes,” said Simpson. “I don’t think we can have a performance like we had on Saturday and not make changes.
“I’m looking at trying to continually change the squad around. Whether or not anything can be done by Friday I don’t really know, but I will be looking at changes.”
Simpson agreed Town’s poor display in tumbling out of the FA Cup offered renewed hope to the first team claims of some of his squad men, the likes of central defender Kelvin Langmead.
“It does offer hope, yes it does, and I still believe that Kelvin Langmead is one of the best centre halves at this level,” he said.
“He’s just been unfortunate that I think we’ve also got two others (Mike Jackson and Graham Coughlan) who I think are the best at this level.
“But it does open the door for people like him and gives them a chance.”
Simpson is now keen to look to the future, stressing there is plenty to be positive about despite the disappointment at making FA Cup headlines for all the wrong reasons.
“We’re not going to keep going on about Saturday, it’s gone now,” he said.
“We discussed it on Monday morning when I got a lot off my chest and the players said their piece about where they think they went wrong. We’ve got to all move on now.
“We’ve still got a hell of a lot to look forward to, a lot of good things ahead of us, with the league position we’re in and the group of players we’ve got.
“We’re also in the Southern area semi-finals of the Johnstone’s Paint Trophy.
“We’ve got to make sure we remember all of those, not forget the feeling we had on Saturday or where we let ourselves down, but make sure that we don’t keep harping back to it, and look forward.”
Simpson acknowledged the fixture list could hardly have handed Town two tougher assignments than back-to-back trips to improving Chesterfield tomorrow night and Lincoln the following Saturday, but he’s seeking a positive reaction from his players.
“They’re two really tough games,” confirmed Simpson, fully aware of the threat of Chesterfield front two Jamie Ward and Jack Lester.
“We’re up at the top of the table because we deserve to be at this stage of the season.
“We’ve got to make sure after these two games that we’re still up there, still challenging, and we’re showing people what a good side we can be.”
Right back Ben Herd will miss next weekend’s match at Lincoln after picking up his fifth yellow card of the season at Blyth.
Former Town winger Darren Currie is likely to figure in the Chesterfield squad tomorrow night but Danny Hall, another ex-Town player, has played just twice for the Spireites this season.