Confident boss Paul Simpson’s gut instinct tells him he has enough talent within his Shrewsbury Town squad to be celebrating promotion at Gillingham’s expense this weekend.
Simpson is delighted with the team spirit and believes his side are well equipped to emerge victorious for the first time at Wembley in the club’s third appearance there inside 13 years.
“I’ve got a good feeling about it,” he said. “I have had over the last two months and always felt that if we could get ourselves in there, we would give ourselves a right good chance because we’ve got enough in the squad to do it.
“The toughest game we could have had in the play-offs was Bury and they were two really tight games – going through on penalties shows that.
“Gillingham are a good side, very strong with good pace about them, so it’s going to be a tough call. It really does come down to who deals with the occasion best. We want to try and enjoy it and if we can do that then I think we’ll be okay.”
Simpson added: “The big thing with this group of players is that they want to do things together. They want to go out and do both the football and social side together. They’ve been paintballing and they’ve even talked about going for a game of bingo together, and it’s a massive part of it.
“To be honest we can’t put our finger on what’s turned it but we’re hoping that the work we’ve done since last July is all going to come to fruition.”
Simpson made up his mind about his starting XI earlier this week and will let the players know tomorrow after training at their Hertfordshire hotel ahead of an afternoon visit to Wembley to get the “tourist bit” out of the way. He will not reveal who the subs will be until 1.45pm on Saturday, the same as usual, with the scramble for places intense.
The only players definitely not involved are the injured Mike Jackson, suspended Steve Leslie and third choice keeper Jas Singh while striker Dave Hibbert is a big doubt with a foot injury. Simpson’s main decisions have centred around whether to go with the fit-again Chris Humphrey or David Worrall on the right wing and who to pick as Grant Holt’s strike partner.
“I know what the team will be and it’s been difficult in that everyone wants to be involved,” he said. “There’s going to be disappointment but if we get the right result we’ll all be able to celebrate together.”
Simpson does not know whether Town’s two results against Gillingham this season – an incredible 7-0 home win and comeback 2-2 away draw – will have any bearing. “They’ll want to get revenge from the game when we beat them seven and will probably think they threw away the game down there as they were 2-0 up,” he said.
“We’ve shown we can score goals through the season so I’m hoping our creative players can create and our goalscorers can get on the end of things.
“And the big thing for me is we have to keep a tight rein on whatever front three they go for, be it McCammon, Oli, Barcham or Simeon Jackson.
“If we defend well as a team and Luke Daniels has another day when he’s on his mark like he was at Bury then it should make for a very good game.”
