Town defender looks forward to taking on local rivals Walsall
Shrewsbury Town defender Joe Riley is hoping that they can get back to winning ways this weekend.Town take on near rivals Walsall on Saturday knowing that three points could lift them out of the bottom four.
Riley, a summer signing from Bury, confirmed that the squad were trying to stay positive ahead of the game.
“I think we are trying to keep as upbeat as we can,” Riley told the press.
“Obviously it’s not an ideal situation, but Coyney and all the staff at the club are doing the best job they can and I think they’ve been doing a good job.
“We’ve got a big game on Saturday. Every game at the minute is a big game for us and obviously we’ve got a big game Saturday and a big game Tuesday so our sole focus is on that really.”
Walsall lost a lot of players last summer including Town old boys Tom Bradshaw and Romaine Sawyers. Despite that Joe thinks they will provide a tough test and emphasised the importance of Town playing their own game.
“At the minute we are desperate for a win,” admitted Joe.
“We can’t really buy a win at the minute, so the sooner we get that win the better. They’ve obviously lost a lot of big players in the summer and really good players, but they like to play football.
“They will probably try and play out of the back. The little Turkish fella (Erhun Oztumer) in midfield is a good player, but we’ve got to keep an eye on all of them really.
“We’ve got great players in that changing room for this level and I think it’s time that we start taking the game to teams rather than first 20 minutes sitting back and that’s probably been our downfall really.
“We haven’t started on the front foot and that’s something that we’ve got to start doing now is starting games better and taking the game to them really.”
Danny Coyne has taken over Temporary charge after Micky Mellon left last week and Riley praised the former Middlesbrough stopper.
“He’s a top man,” said Joe.
“He’s a guy that you want at a football club, a bit of a go to guy. You can go and talk to him and he’s a top class fella. He’s normally just with the ‘keepers, so he’s obviously doing a bit more, but it’s kind of about what Micky was about as well really. He’s doing a good job.
“He’s a very upbeat fella. He’s trying to keep the place as happy as he can, trying to keep training quite fun, but really professional at the same time. So, like I say I think he’s doing the best job he can and I think he’s doing a really good job.”
Riley has struggled with injury in recent weeks, but is hoping an injection has put an end to it and want to get back to his best form.
“I’ve been struggling the last few weeks with a knee injury, which is doing my head in at the minute to put it nicely,” said Riley.
“I’ve only been able to train on Friday’s and get through a game on Saturday, so it’s not been ideal. I had an injection in it last week before the Bradford game, so hopefully that could be the end of it. It’s the knee that I was struggling with a couple of years ago, but I’ve never had any trouble with it.
“It was just before the Bury game that I started struggling with it and that was just after I felt I had come into some good form, so to have a bit of a setback is frustrating, but I’m just trying to get through it at the minute and do the best job I can.”