Ollie Norburn says Shrewsbury Town are ready to repay fans after letting them down

Town went down with a whimper in the first half at Accrington Stanley and were unable to complete a second-half comeback.

Sam Ricketts’ men face the tough prospect of a trip to League One giants Sunderland tomorrow.

Town have won just once on the road this season and Sunderland are unbeaten at the Stadium of Light, where they played in front of more than 46,000 fans against Bradford on Boxing Day.

For midfielder Norburn, who netted from the penalty spot at Accrington, it’s about responding for the 550-plus Town supporters expected to travel.

“The fans were good throughout the game (at Accrington) but we probably let them and ourselves down,” he said.

“The good thing with this league is, especially over the Christmas period, that the games come thick and fast so we can move on to Sunderland.

“No doubt there’ll be another good Shrewsbury following up there and hopefully we can repay that.

“We go back to training, the gaffer will want to look at one or two things, then we go on the road and want to repay the fans for travelling and following us over the Christmas period.”

The midfielder is understood to have attracted interest from Sunderland when signing from Tranmere for his former manager in John Askey at Shrewsbury in the summer. But Norburn, 26, was left frustrated at how the first half in Lancashire got away from the visitors.

“Their goal came from things we spoke about and it happened in the first 30 seconds,” he added.

“Things like keeping him (Jordan Clark) on the outside but he’s cutting in and bending it in. Then it’s an uphill task, we shoot ourselves in the foot, the first half was nowhere near good enough.”

Norburn, who scored his sixth goal of the season, insists that Salop will not fear promotion-hunting Sunderland despite their grand setting and large following.

“We dusted ourselves down and forgot about it. We move on and go to Sunderland. It’s a game where every footballer wants to play,” said the ex-Tranmere man.

“It’ll be a big crowd, a big stadium, but we definitely won’t be going there fearing anything.

“They’re in the same league as us and on our day we’re more than good enough to take on anyone. It’s a matter of getting little things right and starting on the front foot.”