Sharps in plea to fans amid Shrewsbury Town promotion bid

Skipper Ian Sharps has called on Shrewsbury Town fans to show patience as they go gunning for automatic promotion on Saturday.

Town are hoping to leapfrog Wycombe into third place in the final League Two table - and need to get a better result at home to Oxford than Wanderers manage against Southend in order to do so.

But sharps insists there must be no panic from the Shrewsbury supporters if the goals do not come in the early stages.

"The crowd have been brilliant in the last two away games and they've really got behind us," said Sharps, who was named in the League Two team of the season last month.

"I think the fans find it more difficult to be patient at home and expect us to be two or three goals up in 10 minutes.

"Hopefully they'll stay with us on Saturday, even if it's 0-0 after 80 minutes because it would only take one goal to do our bit.

"There are a few young lads in the team and we don't want them to feel anxious - so the fans can help."

If Wycombe do manage to beat Southend then Shrewsbury's result will be academic, though Sharps insists there should be no despair if Town are forced down the play-off route.

"We'd be going into them in good form," added the Town skipper, who has led his side to four consecutive clean sheets and six wins in their last eight outings.

"Usually the fourth-placed team is struggling and the team in seventh is the one in form, but at the moment it's the reverse of that.

"If we do end up in the play-offs then I'm sure we will be okay. If results don't go our way on Saturday afternoon then we will deal with the play-offs then."

By CHRIS HUDSON