Sam Ricketts wary of a Mansfield Cup charge

Sam Ricketts wants to see his Shrewsbury side back to their resolute best – but warns Mansfield rock up in the FA Cup with ‘nothing to lose’.

Town were uncharacteristically leaky in last weekend’s topsy-turvy 4-3 reverse to Bristol Rovers in League One, writes Lewis Cox.

The boss expects to see the reliable side that managed 10 clean sheets in 22 before that.

“We want to get back to winning ways. The positive was we made it a context but it was a sucker punch.

“We showed fight and spirit and that we’re more than capable of scoring goals.

“But Unlike us we conceded cheap goals,” Ricketts said.

“We want to be hard to beat and keep the goalscoring element going. We want to nullify the goals at the other end.

“We’re very solid but you are going to concede. we have little spates where we don’t concede or just the one then we’ve had three threes (against) and a four this year now.

“You want to knock those on the head as best we can.”

League Two Mansfield, 25 places below Shrews in the pyramid, have endured a sluggish start to the campaign after reaching last season’s play-offs.

On John Dempster’s side’s malaise, the Shrews boss continued: “Possibly (they’re under-performing).

“They’ve got good players we’re very wary of. It just shows in English football there’s big competition among all the teams. There’s not a lot separating teams in the Championship, our league or League Two.

“A couple of points takes you from play-offs to just below mid-table in every league.

“It’s not an easy game. They come here just like if we were going to a side a league above us – with nothing to lose and everything to gain.

“They come with that freedom which allows them to express themselves a little bit more than possibly normally.”

Forward Lenell John-Lewis could feature in Ricketts’ thoughts tomorrow after 11 months on the sidelines with an anterior cruciate ligament injury.

The frontman made his return from the bench against Macclesfield in the EFL Trophy and came on against Rovers in the league before captaining a youthful Town side in the Central League Cup.

John-Lewis, an extremely popular member of the squad, has not once let a third serious injury drag him down.

The 30-year-old ruptured his hamstring at Newport County before an ACL injury in his right knee for the Welsh club, the opposite knee to the damage done against Stoke while playing for Town in the FA Cup in January. John-Lewis, who was given a new six-month deal in the summer, said on his mindset: “I don’t know. People say it’s just me, my mum would say it’s probably from her side! You just have to take things with a pinch of salt.

“The more you dwell on things that don’t go your way will have a negative impact on you.

“The whole family has been fantastic. If this was a thanks speech I could go on for ages. A lot of people have helped me.

“It’s pleasing to know I’ve got so many people around me, going home to kids can take your mind off it.

“My daughter is four, she’s like ‘now we’re ready to watch you play football daddy’, it’s massive motivation.

“She’s been there for both of my injuries, she remembers watching me and now she wants to watch me again.

“It’s positive mental attitude. I wanted to do it quicker than I did it in but things happen.

“You have to get over them quickly.

“It’ll be full-blooded for me, I’ve never been that way (to hold back) and hopefully I’ll put some defenders on the floor.”

Sean Goss and Shaun Whalley are not quite ready to feature, but Daniel Udoh could return.