Bernard McNally: Taming the Lions could spark Shrewsbury Town

The Den is a ground which often lives up to its name – at times it really can feel like you are playing in a lion's den and the hosts have lately started to look like the team many people were tipping for promotion at the start of the campaign.

Yet it is also exactly the type of place where, if Town were able to pull of a shock result, it could spark their own season and provide players with the confidence boost they need to kick on.

No-one can dispute that Shrewsbury under Paul Hurst are now a far tougher animal. They are a much tougher team to beat than previously and the record of five clean sheets in the last seven games is one which should give the manager great encouragement.

But ultimately it is wins they need if they are going to drag themselves out of trouble and there will come a point when they need to start taking some unexpected victories. This Saturday is as good a place to start as any.

Town have only won once in the league since the start of September and the immediate road ahead gets no easier. You would perhaps say, on paper, the home game on Bristol Rovers looks winnable but the festive fixture list has away games against two teams currently in the top five in Bolton and Rochdale. Then there is a home game against Fleetwood in the New Year. By then I expect the two teams will be a bit sick of each other, as it will be the fourth time they have met in the space of six weeks.

Town will feel they should have avenged last month's 3-0 league defeat – by far their worst performance under Hurst so far – with a victory in the FA Cup last Saturday. Luck, it appears, simply deserted them, as they hit the woodwork three times in the second half alone.

The manager will be happy his team are creating chances but even so, the lack of goals is now surely his biggest concern. Town remain the second lowest scorers in the division and have now failed to find the net in three games.

Things were made no easier on Saturday by AJ Leitch-Smith's absence and it must be hoped he is able to recover from his knee injury in time for Saturday's game. The 26-year-old is a player who has impressed me when I have watched Town this season and, along with Ivan Toney, looks their best goal threat.

There is no doubt Hurst will already have one eye on the transfer window, where finding a recognised and reliable goalscorer will surely be a priority. Of course, that is something easier said than done. Such players do not come cheap and just about every club in the division is after the same thing, though few have a greater need than Town.

Hurst has reason to be quietly confident with his work so far. The team has been stabilised and no there is no longer a sense of a club in freefall. It is victories which are now needed if they are to start clawing back the deficit.

Though they might be underdogs, a positive result at the Den could change the entire outlook and provide the impetus needed over a testing festive schedule.