Gavin Cowan preaches focus as Shrewsbury Town look to secure safety

Shrewsbury Town’s players have been told to stay “totally locked in” as they look to retain their Football League status.

Salop visit Newport County today (3pm kick-off), hoping to return to winning ways after three consecutive defeats.

Town sit 11 points clear of the relegation zone, but boss Gavin Cowan urged his players to “put the swim shorts away” following a heavy defeat to Crewe Alexandra, insisting their job is far from done.

Speaking ahead of the trip to South Wales, he said: “That's been the message.

“We're very much back with our feet on the ground, level headed, making sure that players understand that we're fighting for our lives as well as Newport.

“We need to make sure that we're certainly the best versions of ourselves and totally locked in from a mentality perspective.”

Newport sit just a point above the relegation zone, having suffered back-to-back defeats.

Shrewsbury are unbeaten in their last six Football League games against Newport, keeping a clean sheet in each of the last four.

Cowan added: “I think they have brought a bit more of a balance. They're a possession-based team. They like to play and they do it well.

“But now they can gain territory as well. Whereas probably before, I wouldn't say that they overplayed, but they certainly liked to play. That's very difficult to do in this league.

“I felt like they've probably got a better balance now and a new manager’s come in and created a bit more of a way of playing and understanding.

“It's been really important to do our due diligence on them, understand their algorithms of the way they play. It's been a conundrum, but like most teams in this league.”