Shrewsbury Town have been warned to adopt a ruthless streak and avoid giving struggling Darlington a lift tomorrow.

Town travel to the north-east to take on one of only two sides in the Football League – Ipswich are the other – yet to collect a victory this season.

Despite collecting just two points from their first dozen games, Darlington have received something of a boost in the last fortnight with Steve Staunton taking over as manager of the Quakers.

But Simpson is desperate to see his side bounce back from a disappointing home defeat at the hands of Port Vale last weekend with a fourth away success of the campaign tomorrow.

“The League table doesn’t lie,” said manager Paul Simpson. “Darlington have struggled in the early part of the season and it’s up to us to make sure they are still struggling at 5pm tomorrow.

“Having a new manager will give them a lift but if we do our jobs properly, it won’t matter if Steve Staunton or Jose Mourinho has gone in.

“Darlington are going to win at some point but we have to make sure it’s not tomorrow.

“I have been in this situation at Carlisle before and what we found was that nobody felt sorry for us and nobody gave us a helping hand.

“That’s the attitude we need to have.”

Simpson has revealed he has injury concerns ahead of tomorrow’s clash which are forcing him to delay naming his team.

He has refused to reveal the identity of the players who have doubts hanging over them.

But the Town boss will be forced into at least one change with skipper Graham Coughlan serving a one-match suspension following his red card against Port Vale last week.

“It’s a blow but we have got enough experience in the squad and we have come through situations in the past where players we would have liked to have played haven’t,” he added.

Shane Cansdell-Sherriff is the favourite to fill in at centre half, although youngster Harry Hooman is another option.

By JAMES GARRISON