Boss Paul Simpson believes the next five games could have a huge bearing on Shrewsbury Town’s promotion prospects this season.

Four of those five games are at Town’s Prostar Stadium, starting with the visit of Dagenham & Redbridge this afternoon.

That is followed by Accrington Stanley at home, Macclesfield away then further home games against Barnet and Hereford.

And Simpson believes his side can play themselves into contention for a top three finish if they can start delivering consistently on their own patch.

“Of our next five games, four of them are at home,” he said.

“They are some real tough games, but I feel that if we approach them properly, then we could get points out of all of them.

“The teams around us have games in hand, but games in hand don’t necessarily mean three points – you still have to win.

“We’ve got 20 games left and 60 points to play for.

“If we can get a good return from those games then we can get ourselves into a good position – and hopefully into the automatic promotion places.”

Meanwhile, Simpson revealed that more players could arrive at Shrewsbury before the transfer window closes a week on Monday.

Left-back Joe Skarz has already arrived from Huddersfield Town and went into the squad for this afternoon’s fixture.

But Simpson hopes there could be more movement in the days ahead as clubs continue to wheel and deal.

“There are a couple of things we’ve got that are ongoing at the moment in terms of players to come in,” he revealed.

“The chairman has been very supportive and I’m hoping things might happen over the next week to 10 days.

“Players may leave too, but we’re still working on things and it’s only in the last few days that you’ve seen more clubs starting to do business.”

By CHRIS HUDSON