Boss Paul Simpson has backed new goalkeeper Chris Neal to establish himself as the Shrewsbury Town No 1 – but admitted he needs more games.

The summer signing from Preston North End played 45 minutes in last week’s win at Northwich then got the full 90 in the Shropshire Senior Cup final against AFC Telford.

Simpson also plans to give him a full game again when Championship side West Bromwich Albion visit the Prostar Stadium tomorrow.

Neal, 23, has yet to start a Football League game, despite five years at Preston and an earlier loan spell with Shrewsbury.

But Simpson, who worked with him during his spell in charge at Deepdale, believes he will make the grade to League Two level.

“Chris needs games,” said Simpson. “It’s a long time since he played in competitive games, so he needs to play.

“Andreas Aresitdou, the younger goalkeeper, will get some opportunities in some of the reserve friendlies to get games himself.

“But Chris needs to be playing and I thought he showed some good awareness against Telford and some good starting positions.

“It was a fantastic finish for their goal and I don’t think he had any chance with that.”

Neal is not the only one with work to do, with Simpson admitting he saw plenty of areas to address during the Senior Cup clash, which ended in defeat on penalties.

But he insists there is plenty of time to get things right before the season starts with the visit of Burton Albion on August 8.

“We’ve got enough training days to put it right,” he said. “The games will give us an idea, but it will be on the training ground where the work is done.

“That was always going to be the case – if we had won the game on Saturday then we wouldn’t suddenly have been ready for the start of the season.”

l Shrewsbury hold their annual open day at the Prostar Stadium on Sunday, between 11am and 3pm.

The first team squad will be on-hand to sign autographs, while shrewsTRUST have also arranged for the FA Cup to be on-site. Fans can pay £5 to have a photo with the trophy.

By CHRIS HUDSON