Shrews can bridge the gap insists Nat Knight-Percival

Back in May they were separated by just five points as Burton Albion won the League Two title and Shrewsbury finished as runners-up.

This time there are already 28 points between the two teams as the Brewers have made the most of a settled line-up to continue their momentum towards a second successive promotion, while Town have struggled.

But Shrewsbury captain Nat Knight-Percival, who played a big part in their promotion push, is convinced Town can buck the trend tomorrow.

"They haven't changed too much, although they've got a new manager (Nigel Clough)," he said.

"Sometimes in football it can happen where you've got momentum and you get a little kick on and just go on and do well the next season.

"They've done well so fair play to them."

The gulf between the teams and Burton's current form of eight games unbeaten means Town go to the Pirelli Stadium as huge underdogs.

But Knight-Percival claims they won't be fazed.

"From the outside, it's going to seem like we're the underdogs but that can sometimes work in your favour," he said.

"So it's a case of us doing our preparation and then going into the game with our minds focused on winning it. We're confident of doing that. In pretty much any league nowadays, any team can beat any team so we're not thinking they're going run all over us.

"That's not the case at all. We're going into it looking to win it, and play good football as well."

Last week's 3-0 defeat to Barnsley left Town in the drop zone for the first time since August, but Knight-Percival insists Town's squad are united as he appealed for the fans to keep backing them.

"All the lads are sticking together. There's no one going off the plan of what we're doing, so it's just a case of keeping the supporters behind us," he said.

"There are always hard times in football but the supporters will back us through this. Hopefully they continue to do so because that support is always much needed. When you hear them getting excited in the stands, it always gives you a little kick on during the game."

Knight-Percival admits Burton can't come quickly enough after last week's setback.

"After losing a game you always want to get into another match quickly and just try to forget about the last one," he said.

"The week has been good for us so we can concentrate on what we need to do for the Burton game.

"We made fundamental mistakes – myself, and as a defensive unit, it was pretty basic stuff.

"We've looked over it as a whole and we weren't really at it as we had been the week before

."