Skipper Ian Sharps has urged his Shrewsbury Town team-mates to keep believing in themselves as they bid to avoid an unwanted place in Morecambe’s history books this weekend.
Tuesday’s unfortunate penalty shootout exit at Bury in the Johnstone’s Paint Trophy made it four games without a win, but Sharps believes Town will soon be back to their best, hopefully starting on Saturday when they pay their first visit to Morecambe’s new £12 million Globe Arena.
The Shrimpers, who moved out of Christie Park at the end of last season, beat Coventry City in the Carling Cup in their opening match at their new 6,500 capacity home – but they have yet to win a league game there having been held to four draws and suffered a 4-1 drubbing at the hands of Bury in the early weeks of the season.
Sharps insists Town have much to be positive about and feels it’s only a matter of time before they start to click again.
“The lads have got to believe in themselves and in what we’re doing,” said the central defender.
“We’re a good team, we can pass the ball, we can move the ball, we can score goals, we can keep clean sheets.
“That’s the recipe for winning games so we’ve got to get back to basics probably, work hard, and things will turn round.”
Sharps added that Morecambe, who made the play-offs last season, cannot be taken lightly despite their slow start to the campaign under Sammy McIlroy, who took the chance to watch Town in action at Bury in midweek.
“They’ve got a new stadium which I’ve heard is nice and they’re a good team to play against,” he said.
“I’m sure they will pass the ball like Bury did on Tuesday but we’ll be up for the game and will compete and will try and get on the ball ourselves.
“They had a slow start last season as well but then they hit a good run of form.”
Sharps reckoned Town could take encouragement from their second half display at Gigg Lane, despite the ultimate disappointment of bowing out on spot kicks.
“At the beginning of the season we set out to get promotion and to do well in this cup,” he said.
“Obviously this cup has gone now but we can aim for promotion.
“I wouldn’t say we played particularly well in the first half at Bury. We’ve got things we need to improve on but we’re fourth in the league and we’ve had some hard games.
“We’re sticking together and will hopefully go onwards and upwards.”
Town boss Graham Turner, meanwhile, wants his side to up the tempo and get back to playing at a quicker pace.
He’s also pondering changes ahead of the trip to Morecambe after resting goalkeeper Chris Neal, wingers Lionel Ainsworth and Mark Wright plus top scorer Jake Robinson on Tuesday.
Central defender Shane Cansdell-Sherriff also missed out owing to a groin injury.
“The game last Saturday against Torquay was a bit similar to the first half at Bury,” said Turner.
“We were a bit non-competitive and played at the wrong tempo.
“We need to play at a lot quicker tempo than we did and second half we showed that, we did okay and looked a far better side.
“That’s the message to the players between now and Saturday – we have to play at the right pace.”
Morecambe, who are expected to include former Town captain Stewart Drummond in their midfield, are currently fifth from bottom in League Two after gaining their second league win of the season at Bradford City last weekend.
By Stuart Dunn