Louis Dodds: I'd sacrifice goals for Shrewsbury Town survival
Top scorer Louis Dodds insists he would sacrifice goals and minutes on the pitch if it meant Shrewsbury were to secure their League One status.
The 10-goal attacking midfielder has been a hit with Greenhous Meadow supporters this season after his summer move from Port Vale.
But he has been in and out of boss Paul Hurst's starting line-up in recent months with the Salop chief recently labelling Dodds a 'nice problem' in terms of selecting his strongest position.
The playmaker admits to being 'happy to play anywhere' and, while he prefers the No.10 role just behind the strikers, he has also impressed from wide areas this season, where he has racked up nine assists as well as double figures in goals.
Dodds said: "One million per cent I'd sacrifice scoring any more goals to stay up.
"I wouldn't play any more minutes if I knew it would keep us up and hopefully we'll do enough.
"We've just got to go onto the next game and get a bit of momentum."
The 30-year-old was handed a recall for last weekend's defeat to Bolton and again caught the eye with his display, going close early on with a delicate chip from outside the penalty area with his weaker left foot.
Town are now winless in four matches, but the ex-Leicester academy product – who has equalled his career-high tally for a season with 10 goals – revealed that the spirit of Hurst's Shrews squad is no different from that of five or six weeks ago when they were amid a six-game unbeaten run.
And Dodds is happy, along with his experienced colleagues, to ensure that attitudes remains positive.
"I don't think the spirit's taken a dip," he added.
"Obviously you don't come in laughing and joking as you would (when you're winning), but I don't think anyone's any less focused or thinks we're going to get relegated any more.
"We knew when we went six unbeaten that we weren't safe and we weren't relegated.
"I think it's the same. I think the older pros like myself, Adam (El-Abd) and Sads (Sadler) have to speak to the younger ones, get everyone going and tell them that it's not a great result and you don't come in laughing and joking.
"But you can't be down in the dumps either, there's got to be a happy medium and keep going for a massive game next week."
