Shrewsbury Town manager Paul Simpson admits his team will not get many better chances to improve their modest away record than Saturday’s trip to struggling Grimsby – as he works towards extending the loan of Southampton striker Jamie White.
Town are up to second place in League Two, their best position since early September, on the back of an unbeaten seven-match run in the league.
But their lofty standing owes much to their excellent record at the Prostar Stadium with Town collecting just nine points from as many away matches, six of which have been drawn – a return Simpson is understandably keen to improve on.
Simpson is well aware that Grimsby, managed by his former Blackpool team-mate Mike Newell, have yet to win a league game at home this season and would be bottom of League Two had it not been for the point deductions handed to other clubs.
Now he wants his players to recapture the exciting form which has consistently lit up the Prostar.
“We can’t take anything for granted and it’s going to be a tough game because Grimsby are going to be scrapping for their lives, but it’s a really good opportunity for us to start putting our home form into the away games as well,” said Simpson.
“We don’t approach away games any differently but unfortunately we just haven’t been getting the results. Although we’ve only lost two away games it’s now a case of making sure we turn the draws we’ve been getting into some wins.
“Some away games we haven’t deserved to get anything out of but others we have. Chesterfield should have been three points so there have been games where we’ve thrown it away and others where we’ve had to be satisfied with a point.
“But we’ll go to Grimsby and be totally committed, and we’ll try and get ourselves three points which would set us up for the Wycombe game the week after.”
Grimsby, who could include ex-Town skipper Richard Hope (see page 39), have won just one of their 19 league games this term, and Simpson was there to see it.
“I saw them at Bury a couple of weeks ago and they played well, deservedly getting the result,” he said.
“Grimsby are not going to carry on losing forever. They’re always getting one game closer to winning at home and we’ve got to make sure it’s not against us.
“I know Mike (Newell) from playing with him at Blackpool for a season. He’s a very honest fella, says it exactly how he sees it, and we know he’s going to have them up for the game.
“He wants them to play football, that was the thing I noticed when I saw them against Bury, they passed the ball about.
“They’ve also got Adam Proudlock up front who’s a good striker locals will know from his Wolves days. We have got to be spot on.”
Simpson added the Blundell Park clash may come too soon for Mike Jackson even though he returned to training earlier this week.
And the boss is bracing himself for a welcome selection headache between the posts with Luke Daniels expected to be available for the first time since October.
Simpson added he was planning to talk to Southampton about extending the loan of young striker White who plays the final game of his initial month this weekend.
“I like him, I think he’s got something and he’s different to what we have.”
Town step back on to the road to Wembley when they host mid-table League One side Brighton in the Southern area semi-final of the Johnstone’s Paint Trophy on Tuesday (7.45pm).