Shrewsbury Town have been challenged to show a ruthless streak as they go in search of a third straight win at home to Northampton tomorrow.

Boss Paul Simpson has been delighted by victories over Crewe and Lincoln in their last two League Two outings.

But he now wants to see his side show that they can sustain their form by seeing off a managerless Northampton outfit who have struggled since being relegated last season.

“We’ve given ourselves a really nice base to build on, and we need to keep pushing on,” said Simpson.

“Northampton are a good side with good individuals but, for some reason, it’s not happening for them.

“We need to make sure that when they get back on the coach tomorrow night it’s still not started happening for them.

“We have to be as professional and as ruthless as we’ve been recently and make sure we get the result.”

The Cobblers will arrive in Shropshire in a state of flux, with Ian Sampson continuing as caretaker manager following the dismissal of Stuart Gray earlier this month.

It is the second week in a row that Shrewsbury have faced a side without a permanent manager, having won 2-0 at leaderless Lincoln last Saturday.

But Simpson insists they will spend no time thinking about that in their preparations for the game.

“We’ve got to forget about them and what issues they have got,” he added.

“They’ve still got good players and we will have to play well to get the result we all want.”

Midfielder Craig Disley has been ruled out for up to six weeks with suspected medial ligament damage after injuring his knee in Wednesday’s reserves draw at Port Vale.

He will now go for an MRI scan on Monday to get a confirmed diagnosis.

Goalkeeper Chris Neal has resumed training this week but is still not fully fit.

By CHRIS HUDSON