Shane Cansdell-Sherriff insists he is ready to fill the central defensive void created by Graham Coughlan’s absence at Darlington on Saturday.

Coughlan misses the trip to the north-east through a one-game suspension after receiving the first red card of his Shrewsbury career against Port Vale last week.

That will require a defensive re-shuffle for Shrewsbury, with Cansdell-Sherriff confident he can slot in alongside Kelvin Langmead at centre half – if required – after doing the job for the final 35 minutes of the defeat against Port Vale.

“I’m comfortable at centre half,” said the Australian. “It’s probably my preferred position along with left back so if the gaffer wants me to do the job on Saturday, hopefully I can do a good job for the team.

“I’ve played there a lot when I was at Leeds and in Denmark (with AGF Aarhus) and a bit at Tranmere as well.”

Town will make the trip to Darlington with the Quakers, now managed by Steve Staunton, still waiting to record their first victory of the season after 12 attempts.

Ten of those games have been defeats, but Cansdell-Sherriff has urged his team not to take any notice of the basement club’s poor record.

“They haven’t won a game yet but we can’t even think about that,” added the 26-year-old.

“We just have to go up there and concentrate on our own game and perform as we can.

“We know they are still going to be a good side and they are going to be battling and fighting for everything.

“But with the results we have had away from home so far this season, I personally think we can go and win anywhere.

“Losing to Port Vale last week was disappointing but we had a bad game against Dagenham earlier and bounced back well and now we have to do the same again.”

By JAMES GARRISON