Paul Simpson is looking for his Shrewsbury Town side to make the most of home comforts as they target turning the tables on fellow high fliers Dagenham in their first Prostar Stadium outing of 2010 on Saturday.
Boss Simpson, keen to bring in reinforcements to strengthen his squad, has urged his men to replicate their promising form on the road which has seen them pick up seven points from three trips by now improving their home form. Town have won one and drawn the other four of their last five home matches, with Simpson stressing the need for a better points return on home soil given that four of the next five games are at the Prostar.
“It seems a long time so I’m delighted to be back at home,” said Simpson. “Now I want us to go and build on what we’ve done away from home. We want to make this a difficult place for teams to come.
“We’re exactly the same as we were last season with 39 points after 26 games. We need to now make sure we kick on and we know we have to be better than we were in the first half of the season. It’s quite strange really because everybody thought we had a good first half last season because we had a couple of 7-0 wins.
“We’re in a position where, when we play as well as we can do, I think we’ve got a real chance.
“Our home form hasn’t been as good as it was last season, but we’ve got Dagenham, Accrington, Barnet and Hereford coming up at home and Macclesfield away, so they’re five really good games.”
And Simpson insists his side will need no motivating this weekend as they prepare to get one over on a Dagenham side who beat them 5-0 at Victoria Road on a miserable night in August.
“I don’t really think it’s a case of revenge but the players who were involved at Dagenham won’t need any motivation,” he said. “We had a proper rude awakening that night and it’s not a nice feeling to be on the receiving end of that so I hope the players want to go out and do themselves justice.
“It’s going to be a tough game because they’re a good side, we know that, but we’re a good side as well when we play to the levels we’re capable of.”
As Simpson welcomes Dean Holden back from suspension, he is resigned to being without skipper Graham Coughlan, ruled out for up to a month with a hamstring injury.
It’s only heightened the need for Simpson to enter the transfer market and he’s hopeful his endeavours will have paid off in time for the weekend.
“We’re inquiring about players, on loan and permanent,” he said. “I’m doing everything I can to get players in. It’s a little bit slow at the moment but we’ve just got to keep going.
“I need a left sided defender, either a left back or left sided centre half, and then Shane Cansdell-Sherriff would stay where he is. I don’t want to put Kevin McIntyre at left back ideally as I think he’s done very well in the centre of midfield.
“There are four players I’m after and it’s a case of any one of those four would do me.
“I’m still trying to get a forward in as well. I was hoping it was going to be a case of one out, with Nathan Elder, and one coming in which has been ongoing for the last two weeks, but nothing’s happened there at the moment.
By Stuart Dunn