Midfielder Kevin McIntyre believes Shrewsbury Town have played themselves out of the run of bad form that was threatening to derail their League Two promotion challenge.

A run of just one win in seven games had seen them fall from top spot to fifth and had coincided with some inconsistent performances.

But the seeds of recovery were sewn as they rallied from 4-0 down at Chesterfield to eventually lose 4-3.

Wins against Barnet and Crewe followed before Saturday’s unlucky 2-0 defeat at Southampton in the FA Cup.

And McIntyre – who came on as a substitute to help inspire that brave late effort against the Spirieites and has started every game since – is confident that they are now heading in the right direction.

“In the course of a season we were always going to have a bad patch somewhere along the way,” he said.

“But we always knew we would come out of it and hopefully we can push on now.

“We tried a new formation at Crewe (with three central midfielders and Jake Robinson playing as a lone striker) and that was probably our best performance in a long time,” he added.

“Everyone was passing the ball and we felt comfortable – it was good.

“In the last few weeks our away form hasn’t been the best so it was a matter of changing things a bit and being a bit more solid.”

Meanwhile, McIntyre also praised the contribution of goalkeeper Chris Neal who – at the age of 25 – is finally getting an extended run of games at first time level for the first time in his career.

“He’s been outstanding this season and it shows what a run of games can do for you,” said McIntyre.

“We always knew he was a top goalkeeper and he’s showing that now.”

• Town’s reserves won 1-0 away to Oldham Athletic in a game played at Stalybridge yesterday afternoon.Lewis Neal netted a 10th minute penalty after Benjamin van den Broek had been brought down by Oldham keeper Greg Fleming.

By CHRIS HUDSON