Paul Simpson will have to make do with his current crop of players in a bid to climb League Two following his failure to bring in fresh faces on loan, writes Shrewsbury Town blogger James Pugh.

Despite much hope and anticipation, the deadline for loan deals came and went last week with the only movement involving the club seeing youngster Andre Gray join Telford on loan.

I’m not knocking the manager here – he did his best to sign new players, including defender Peter Murphy from Carlisle, which fell through at the last minute because of reasons which were out of his hands.

Following Town’s poor 2-1 defeat at Hereford, Town slipped out of the play-off positions for the first time in weeks and illustrated their current inconsistent form as well as the need for fresh faces.

Simpson will have to rely on his current side to improve our fortunes in the league, as well hope he can get players like Disley and the two Neal’s back playing sooner than later.

Which areas of the squad do fans think need strengthening? I think we are short of cover at centre half and think it’s unfair to think a veteran like Coughlan can play week in week out without a rest.

I also think we need a goalscoring midfielder to replace Ben Davies and a winger who will take players on and provide better service for the front men.

It wasn’t all doom and gloom for Town fans last week as Simpson extended the loan deals of Devitt and Fairhurst until at least January.

Both players have impressed me during their brief stint with the club.

Fairhurst offers us something different in attack and has scored a few goals, while Devitt is an out and out winger we have been crying out for since the departure of Humphreys in the summer and the inconsistent form shown by Leslie.

Looking ahead to January the big question to ask is whether Simpson will spend money on players or continue to use the loan market.

If the manager has money to spend (we must have some following the departure of Grant Holt for a big fee) then my advice is spend it!

Simpson will not be given many more chances to deliver promotion to a so called ‘big club’ like Town so he should make the most of the tools he has at his disposal to do it.

Plus following recent failures at Wembley, I don’t think fans can take any more promotion heartache.

Do fans disagree with me and think we already have the squad to achieve promotion?

An alternative to spending money is invest time and effort in our younger players.

I like what I have seen from Andre Gray in his brief outings for Town and think he has the potential to make it at League Two level.

Hopefully playing regularly for Telford will improve him as a player so that when he returns he will be able to adapt and fit in when called upon by the manager.

Following a weekend off, next up for Town is a home game against high-flyers Rotherham United on Tuesday, which will provide another chance for us to prove we can match it with the leagues big boys.