Sam Ricketts: Shrewsbury Town have hit reset button
Manager Sam Ricketts believes his Shrewsbury Town side have recharged and ‘reset’ in a bid to find their stubborn streak.
Town have used a rare free midweek to recover from a busy period and worked hard at Sundorne Castle in testing conditions with Storm Dennis battering the country.
Ricketts’ men are braced for crunch back-to-back Montgomery Waters Meadow clashes against Doncaster and Tranmere in a bid to end their League One victory drought, which dates back exactly two months.
“We’ve tried to press reset a little bit after what has been a real busy six weeks to try to finish the season as soon as possible,” said Ricketts.
“It’s recovering physically, mentally and resetting to give us the best chance in this block of 10 games to get us back to where we were – a team that’s hard to beat.
“And obviously we’re trying to add another layer to the team to make sure we finish the season as strongly as possible after the first half we had.
“We had some amazing performances in the FA Cup run.
“The league we’ve been OK performance-wise, but not got points the players deserve.
“It’s refining things after you’ve had six weeks and not been able to train.
“It allows you to work on a few things that get lost when you play two games a week.
“It’s a few little points and sharpness of mind and body more than anything. Not getting back to basics, but key elements of our play.”
Darren Moore’s Doncaster are 11th, just five points from a play-off spot.
They will be without former Town hitman Fejiri Okenabirhie for the trip to Shrewsbury.
The striker, who was sold to Rovers last month, was sent off last weekend against Gillingham and will serve a ban.
“We need another positive performance,” the Town boss added. “Performances haven’t been too bad, but we haven’t got the points that come with it.
“Now it’s time to reset, get back on track and get back to where we were before the hectic six weeks that, on one hand has gone brilliantly in the FA Cup, and the other half hasn’t with points in the league.”
Ricketts, whose side are 10 without a win in the league, will be monitoring injured trio Shaun Whalley, Brad Walker and Josh Vela in the hope at least one will be fit enough to play.
Town have taken four points from the last 30 available and are also without a clean sheet during that run.
