Alex Rodman: Training tailored to give Shrewsbury Town best play-off shot

Paul Hurst’s men have just one game of the 46-fixture calender remaining, against MK Dons at home tomorrow, before all focus turns on Thursday night’s first-leg clash.

And ahead of the visit of the already-relegated Dons, when Hurst will seek answers for the remaining couple of uncertainties for his play-off side, Rodman revealed Town’s training regime has been ramped up in a bid to rediscover the squad’s steamrolling best.

And Rodman, 31, insists Town will be better for the hard yards.

“I definitely think it’s been ramped up. The last two weeks after third was cemented we tempered it a little bit but this week it’s certainly ramped up,” said the winger, who is known to be one of the fittest in Hurst’s squad.

“It’s been more running, high intensity, distances, more sprint distances, all week with next week in mind – getting back to what we were doing earlier on in the season.

“The games have been thick and fast, pitches have been heavy, it’s hard to keep up the intensity and level of training we were doing throughout the winter months. It’s just impossible, too taxing on the boys.

“We’re obviously well known for the athleticism in the team and the distances we cover and our intensity. It’s been very, very difficult to do over the winter months.

“But we’re able to do that now, the pitches are harder, it’s been ramped up and everyone looks better for it.”

Rodman spent a number of seasons working up through the non-league game and explained that, at a later stage in his career, a League One play-off clash – potentially at the home of a former Premier League side in Charlton – is not lost on him.

The former Tamworth, Aldershot and Grimsby man experienced play-off heartache with Hurst at Grimsby against Newport in 2013.

He added: “It’s just an excitement to be involved in those games where we could potentially go to Charlton with 25,000 there on Sky in the League One play-offs.

“That is not lost on me. I play football for a reason, I want to be involved in games like that.

“If you’d have told me at the start of the season that I could be going there and have the chance to perform on that stage and be a contributing factor to taking Shrewsbury into the play-off final, I’d have bitten your hand off.

“I want to look back on my career and say I played in games like that and was successful in games like that.

“There’s no added pressure, it’s more an excitement and realisation of that’s why I worked so hard.

“All the hours in the Conference and lower. All the times in the gym and sacrifices, it’s for these moments. Hopefully we come out on the right side of it.”

Second-bottom MK Dons’ fate was determined last weekend. Rodman added: “I am surprised. By all accounts the budget is strong, they’re a big club and have had success in the past.

“I’ve seen a few results from teams that have been relegated and it’s like ‘the shackles are off’. I’ll never forget Joleon Lescott saying when my team, Villa, went down – we can go out and play now.”

“How does that work? That’s a mentality when everything’s finalised and there’s freedom and they can make mistakes without being punished because their fate’s sealed.”