Rochdale v Shrewsbury preview: Sam Ricketts wants to see strong end to season
A historic night at Anfield may be just around the corner, but Sam Ricketts is determined Shrewsbury Town’s league season does not fade out.
Wednesday’s 2-0 defeat at Gillingham saw Town come crashing back down to earth after the high of fighting back from 2-0 down to force an FA Cup replay against European champions Liverpool.
The defeat leaves Ricketts’ men 16th in League One, 11 points off a play-off place and 12 clear of the drop zone.
They will look to bounce back tomorrow at Rochdale, seeking their first victory at Spotland since an emphatic 7-1 success in 2001.
“We don’t want the season to fade out, we want to keep going and keep getting the results that we want to do well in the FA Cup, but climb the league table as well,” said the Montgonmery Waters Meadow boss.
“Our performance level was extremely good last Sunday and not so good on Wednesday, but we’re not a million miles away.”
Ricketts added to his squad yesterday with the addition of Fleetwood Town striker Conor McAleny on loan until the end of the season.
The 27-year-old former Everton youngster is eligible to make his debut tomorrow if selected.
The boss admitted he was looking to boost his options with Town facing a hectic spell of fixtures, not just this week but right through until the end of the season.
Ricketts made five changes in midweek and, when asked if he may freshen things up again tomorrow, said: “Possibly. We have to get ready to go again in another away game.
“We’re into a really busy period now, I think the rest of the season we’ve only got six free midweeks.
“It’s going to busy and we need players to get us through that, as well as adding quality. We want as many options as we can to help us get as many results as possible
“We’re not overloaded with players, every fit player we had was involved on Wednesday.”
Ricketts was unhappy with how Wednesday’s game unfolded, saying afterwards he thought the 90 minutes developed into a rugby-style contest.
And while conditions are also likely to prove tricky in Lancashire tomorrow, the former Wrexham chief is hopeful there will be more entertainment for the fans.
“The pitch isn’t great there, but they do try to play to be fair,” added Ricketts.
“I’d like all games to be a bit more footballing as it was last Sunday, but unfortunately they’re not.
“Anyone can play however they want to, and there’s a number of sides up to the top level who have had joy playing it (direct style).
“But we couldn’t counter-act that on Wednesday because the pitch was extremely poor and not conducive to getting the ball down to try to play.
“At the same time, I think we should and could have done much better when we did have the ball.
“I’m trying to build a team that isn’t that direct and we don’t have a 6ft 4in centre-forward, someone we can play long into.”
Town will be without skipper Ollie Norburn due to the knee injury picked up in the FA Cup tie with Liverpool.
“It’s nothing serious, but it’s going to take a week to 10 days before it settles down and he’s back in action,” added Ricketts.
The boss must again decide whether to give FA Cup hero Jason Cummings his first start since November or stick with Callum Lang, who Cummings has replaced in the last two games, as his main striker.
