Blog: Bad run is over, but now keep calm

Blog: Town may have ended their poor run in the league, but fans mustn't get carried away, writes Shrewsbury Town blogger James Pugh.

What a relief is was on Saturday to finally end our run of six defeats in a row – especially against a local rival in Crewe.

Many fans wouldn't have expected such a comprehensive win and even more of a surprise was the impact of a player not familiar to many – 17-year-old striker Tom Bradshaw.

Youngsters are told to take their chance when it comes and the super-sub certainly did, showing the more experienced players who have been poor in the last few weeks how it should be done.

It was a much-improved performance by Town, but I fear it may have come too late to re-ignite our play-off chances.

Hopefully confidence among the players will be boosted and all they can do now is forget about other teams' fortunes and concentrate on winning their own matches.

Many players have their futures with the club at stake and have a reason to want to end the season with a bang, while Simpson should take note of Saturday and give more of the youngsters a chance to show what they can do. In their favour, they have got the hunger and passion that some of the other players haven't been showing recently.

I had to smile this week when I heard the news that Jamie Cureton would be happy to extend his stay with Town. Jamie – if you are reading this then you are going to have to work a lot harder and show us the kind of form you have produced throughout your career.

The bottom line is that a striker needs to score goals and you have produced none. And you now have Tom Bradshaw waiting in the wings to fill your boots.

The victory on Saturday has kept us mathematically in the running for the play-offs, but with so many teams in with a chance, we are probably going to need to win at least four out of the five remaining games.

The good news is that our next two games are at home against league strugglers Cheltenham on Tuesday, followed by a visit from Lincoln on Saturday.

Town will be looking to repeat their away victories against both sides in September, although with our form the way it is at the moment it is difficult to predict what result we are likely to produce next.

Do fans think we should stick with experienced players or give the youngster a chance in the last few games of the season?