Paul Simpson believes his Shrewsbury Town side have yet to consistently hit top form and has set his players the target of consolidating their place among the League Two promotion chasers as they enter a tough run of games.
Town head to Lincoln City on Saturday, the Imps bound to be determined to bounce back from Tuesday’s shock FA Cup replay exit at home to Kettering – a match watched by Simpson.
And then Shrewsbury face a testing set of fixtures which Simpson feels could hold the key as to just how well his men can do this season.
“Lincoln’s a tough game but I don’t think they’ll come much tougher than Chesterfield away (where Town drew 2-2 last Friday),” said boss Simpson. “We’re on a nice little run of league results so we’ve got to keep that going now.
“This is a very tight division with six teams on 27 points and Darlington and Wycombe at the top.
“We’re in third place on merit but I don’t think we’ve come anywhere near the consistency we all want at the football club.
“I still think there’s a lot more to come from us and if we can turn these draws into wins then I do believe we’ve got enough to go and get ourselves in a good position.
“If you look at the fixtures we’ve got coming up, we’re playing the likes of Rotherham, Wycombe, Bury, Rochdale, Bradford, all real good sides.
“We’ve also got Grimsby who had their first result of the season when I went to watch them at Bury last Saturday. If we can come through November and December and still be up in those top places, we’ll have a good chance.”
Simpson will have to make at least two changes at Sincil Bank with defensive duo Mike Jackson and Ben Herd both serving one-match bans.
He’s also sweating on the fitness of defender Graham Coughlan while remaining hopeful that on-loan goalkeeper Luke Daniels will be available after missing the last six games through injury.
“It’s a case of who’s fit to be honest,” said Simpson. “Darren Moss is the obvious choice for Ben Herd and we need to see whether Graham Coughlan’s going to be fit, but Shane Cansdell-Sherriff’s not going to be.
“I’m hoping that we’ll have Graham fit and it will make it an easy choice but at the moment it’s not quite so straightforward.
“Luke Daniels is training now and I’m hoping he comes through this week unscathed so he can be available for selection.
“It was disappointing for Glyn Garner because other than the first goal at Chesterfield, which was a poor one to give away, I thought he performed very well.”
Simpson added he was encouraged by what he’s seen so far of his latest loan signing, young Southampton striker Jamie White.
“He looks lively, he’s got real good pace about him, he’s very forward thinking and he’s impressed me in training,” he said.
“The job he’s got to do is make sure he can get himself ahead of the likes of Holt, Walker and Hibbert, but he gives us a good and different striking option.
“It’s a big step up from playing in the reserves to the first team and the signs are he’ll be able to do that. Getting him to know the players is a big thing and if we can do that quickly hopefully he’ll show us what he can do.”
Town have a home League Two clash against Dagenham & Redbridge on Tuesday (7.45pm).
• See page 63 for more Town news as we profile newcomer White.