Kelvin Langmead has challenged Shrewsbury Town to crank up the heat on their League Two promotion rivals by extending their unbeaten record into double figures – and well beyond.

Town head to Grimsby on Saturday aiming to build on a run of seven League games without defeat, the last setback coming at Accrington Stanley on October 21.

But Langmead has now stressed the importance of building on that run as the hectic Christmas period approaches.

“We are on a decent little run at the moment but we have to do everything we can to make sure that is the start of something longer,” said Town’s longest serving player.

“Wycombe have shown what you can do in terms of League position if you can put a really long unbeaten run together.

“We want to try and get to double figures and then try and push on further if we can. We certainly have the squad to put a run like that together.

“But all we are focussed on at the moment on Saturday because we know that Grimsby is going to be a tough place to go.

“When we have come up against teams who aren’t doing so well this season, we haven’t always done so well ourselves so it’s a chance for us to prove that we can go to places like this and get results.”

Langmead has also hailed his side’s ability to grind out results in recent weeks, without hitting top form in terms of performance.

“We haven’t been at our best in the last couple of weeks but we have got the results which is absolutely crucial because there will be games like that in any season,” he added.

“I remember when Manchester United won the treble (in 1999) that they won a lot of games 1-0 when they weren’t at their best.”

By JAMES GARRISON