Luke Summerfield hopes Shrewsbury Town victory will be perfect pick-me-up

But the Shrewsbury midfielder has seen enough of the sick bag recently. He was laid low with a stomach bug on the team coach to Bournemouth.

And while Graham Turner included him among the substitutes, he was in no fit state to play his part in what turned out to be another away defeat.

Yet the Greenhous Meadow has proved a welcome refuge for the 24-year-old who needed a fresh start after suffering Wembley final heartache with Cheltenham – at the hands of tomorrow's visitors.

Summerfield was part of the Robins side beaten 2-0 by the Railwaymen, whose progress into the play-offs took most of League Two by surprise.

"It was a horrible time for me personally and for the boys at Cheltenham," admited the midfielder. "Losing in the final was hard. But I saw coming here to Shrewsbury as a new challenge. Last year has gone now and I'm looking forward to the games coming thick and fast in the next few weeks.

"Crewe are next and as far as I am concerned, this is just another game we need to go and win. It doesn't particularly mean anything to me because it is Crewe."

But the recent form shown by Steve Davis' outfit should be a fair pointer of what last May's promoted sides can achieve in League One without great financial outlay.

After winning just once in nine games and dropping as low as 19th, the Alex, in part inspired by loan signing Lauri Dalla Valle, have won three of their last four with victories over Paolo Di Canio's Swindon and Doncaster, in particular, standing out.

"We know what Crewe are all about," added Summerfield. "If we can cut out the mistakes then we'll definitely climb up the table.

"I am sure the confidence will come back when we start picking up results. Individual mistakes have cost us and I put my hand up for that too. We're in a sticky patch, but we all believe in ourselves."

Summerfield can at least take consolation in his own form during Town's slump. And he will get 'brownie points' for the determination he showed returning at Brisbane Road despite having the thumb he dislocated in the FA Cup exit at Hereford heavily strapped.

"I had a tough week and obviously Hereford wasn't a good day with having to spend the evening in A and E.

"Then I was gutted to miss the Bournemouth game. So after a horrible few days, I was buzzing to get back on the pitch although the result at Orient was not great. We had decent spells and Luke Rodgers came in and worked his socks off for us."

Rodgers is likely to polarise opinion off the pitch tomorrow. The striker's return to Shrewsbury has proved a fillip for critical Town fans, who fondly recall his goal-laden early days at the Gay Meadow.

Crewe fans, though, won't be holding out the red carpet for a player who defected to local rivals Port Vale back in 2007.

But Rodgers insisted: "I enjoyed it at Crewe. I got on really well with Dario Gradi and have some good memories. Obviously the Crewe fans don't take to me in the same way because I've moved on to different clubs."