Omar Beckles ready to grasp Shrewsbury Town chance
Defender Omar Beckles is ready to lock down his position in Paul Hurst’s starting XI – after insisting there is much more to come.
The summer signing from Accrington Stanley has had to bide his time since arriving at Montgomery Waters Meadow due to the impressive form of Mat Sadler and Toto Nsiala.
Beckles, 26, started just his second league game for Town in the 1-0 defeat at Peterborough and earned plaudits from boss Hurst.
The giant defender is determined to show supporters there is more to come and insists the training levels at Shrewsbury have already made a big impact on his game.
“It’s a long season,” said Beckles, who impressed as an ever-present in his previous two campaigns with Aldershot and Accrington.
“I’ve had a lot of people saying ‘how are you feeling, you’re not playing?’ But I’ve been in the game long enough to know that it’s a long season.
"Like we saw with Junior, injuries can happen, suspensions, illness like Sads – I’ve always got to be prepared.
“I’ll continue to be prepared and hopefully now I can take my opportunity and stay in the team.
“You want that competition for places. We spoke about how well Toto has been doing, that’s because of the competition for places – it’s not like there’s a young lad on the bench who’s not going to get on.
“You’ve got lads that can play week in, week out at this level.
“It’s good competition, you’ve got the experience of Sads, the form of Toto and myself.
"Hopefully I can get in now and stay there for the rest of the season.”
Boss Hurst and No.2 Chris Doig are known to demand ultra high levels of the squad behind the scenes at Sundorne Castle and Beckles is relishing the day-to-day challenge of showing his worth.
He added: “I’m loving the challenge, I’m embracing it.
“Obviously I’m used to playing week in, week out but it’s a new challenge and it’s pushing my level, demanding a high level in training, pushing and fighting for a position that I want.
“I’m quite a harsh critic. I try my best to push to be even better.
"I still feel like, if I get in a flow of games, I’ll be even better.
"That’s the minimum you want to see from me. I still feel there’s more to come and hopefully I can show that.”
