Sam Ricketts: Dave Edwards will only be involved if it's right for Shrewsbury Town

Edwards completed his fairytale return to boyhood club Shrewsbury this week and is pushing to be involved against the Addicks at Montgomery Waters Meadow.

The 32-year-old has not played competitively for Reading this season after injury, but played for the Royals’ under-23s before Christmas and is in full training to prove his fitness.

A bumper Meadow crowd is expected to welcome home the Pontesbury man. But Ricketts is focusing on what is right for the team.

He said: “My job is to win games. I have to do what is right for the football club.

“If I feel it’s right for Dave to be on the bench and he has a potential bit to play then he’ll be on the bench.

“But we’ll assess his fitness and see where we’re at.”

There are just three points separating Town, in 16th, to the League One bottom four, as the chasing pack have begun to close the gap.

Shrews have won one, drawn two and lost two in the league under former Wrexham chief Ricketts – but the boss is not concerned by the close proximity of the relegation battlers.

Instead the Salop boss continues to look upwards and believes a couple of good results could have his side looking at mid-table.

“You notice it. There’s still a long way (to go),” added Ricketts, whose side could climb to 14th by beating Lee Bowyer’s Charlton. “The points are so tight, if you win one game or two, all of a sudden you’re climbing near the top half.

“All I can worry about is our performances. If they maintain at the level they’re at then we’ll win more games than not and we’ll be fine.

“We’d like to be higher up the league but we are where we are. It’s a case of getting the wins to push up the table.

“We haven’t really lost games. We’ve drew a few we could and should’ve won, it’s just those fine details to see us over the line that’ll make all the difference.”