Shrewsbury's Dave Edwards finally back to feeling fighting fit

It took the Shrewsbury favourite some time to work his way to being pain-free after the operation he underwent in the summer, writes Lewis Cox.

But the Welshman, who turns 34 in February, now feels in the best shape he has been since he returned to his hometown club almost 12 months ago.

The year since has been riddled with bad luck that has stopped Edwards reaching full speed. But the Pontesbury star is motoring forward now having already made 21 appearances this term, including 15 starts.

Sam Ricketts’ Shrewsbury head to play-off chasing Blackpool tomorrow looking to secure back-to-back league wins for the first time this season and, with captain Ollie Norburn suspended, Edwards’ importance is likely to be even greater than usual.

“I’m definitely better. I’ve spoke before about the issue with the pain in my ankle I had to get through,” said Edwards, who is likely to take the captain’s armband at Bloomfield Road.

“In the last month or so it’s really lowered, I’m not worried about where my foot position is when I’m running.

“It’s getting better, I was starting to worry whether it was an age thing where you don’t quite recover from these things.

“But I’m definitely feeling a lot more freedom in my movement. I still need to improve in most aspects of my game to get to where I want to but I’m confident now that I can.

“I can see and feel a little bit of improvement week on week. I’m confident about getting to heights where I can make a big impact for this team.”

After finally netting his first Shrewsbury goal in an otherwise unremarkable EFL Trophy tie against Newcastle United Under-21s, Edwards managed to bag twice more in the next seven games – including an important FA Cup winner at Bradford.

But there is still a goalscoring milestone that eludes Town’s No.4

He added: “It’s always nice to get goals, especially for me personally trying to arrive in the box.

“The most important thing in the last couple of months is that I’ve been getting chances.

“Last season, when I was never at full fitness by any stretch of the imagination, I wasn’t even getting chances in games. But it’s a combination of my timing getting better, me getting fitter, understanding the other lads more and them understanding me.

“Every game I get a chance or two and I’m getting better at hitting the targets, I just need one or two to fly in.

“I want to get that first league goal, hopefully I can do it this week. Goals are an important part of my game. I do a lot of work off the ball so to be there at the end of it is nice.”

Blackpool, having sorted their nightmare ownership issues in the summer, are enjoying a fine season under Simon Grayson.

The Seasiders are the latest in a lengthy taxing fixture list for Town, but Ricketts’ men have done very well to acquire 10 points from a possible 18 against Sunderland, in 12th, and other teams eighth and above.

It is fifth-placed Blackpool next, followed by Rotherham, in sixth, on Boxing Day in what has been a thankless run of games.

Edwards knows where tomorrow’s hosts have got their joy this season and backs Shrewsbury to deal with them.

“They have lots of positives going forward,” added the midfielder. “Liam Feeney on the wing is very good at crossing and (Armand) Gnanduillet the striker is bang in form.

“We’ll have to stand up to it. If we’re defensively solid there’ll be opportunities to get goals.

“In 90 per cent of games we’ve nullified the opposition really well. The formation we play and defensive players we’ve got are really good so we’ve kept a lot of clean sheets, as a whole team we defend really well.”

Blackpool have a poor recent record against Town, having not managed a victory in 10 attempts dating back to 1997.