Town's assistant manager sees Friday's friendly as good preparation for League Two
Assistant manager Mike Jackson believes Shrewsbury Town's trip to Altrincham on Friday night will be another difficult friendly - as the Conference Premier side look to prove their worth like Kidderminster Harriers.Town were held to a 1-1 draw against Kiddy at Aggborough on Tuesday and Jackson feels Altrincham will also want to show how good they are against League Two opposition.
"We've got another good test at Altrincham before going into the league season," said Jackson.
"They'll go into their season soon as well. They will want to beat League Two players so they can say they're better than them and deserve to be where we are.
"That's what they'll be looking to do against us, so we have to make sure we get out of the traps quickly.
"It's the last game before the start of the season and there's still places up for grabs, so people have got to make sure they take their opportunity when they get it."
Jackson feels Town's pre-season has gone well and thought the test at Kidderminster in midweek was good preparation for facing League Two teams in the 2014/15 campaign.
"The build-up that we planned and the way it has gone has been really good so far, so we're very happy with it," he said.
"The game against Kidderminster (on Tuesday) was a great test for us and more like a League Two game that we're going to encounter.
"We got to grips with their style, and in the second half we started to move the ball around in the way we know we can.
"I thought there was a great tempo to the match. The tempo they played at in the first half, we've not come up against that so far, with the ball going in behind us a lot straight from the goalkeeper's kicks."
And Jackson feels the Town players will be fit and ready for the big kick-off on August 9, insisting the new crop of players at the Club have settled well together.
"Things will take a little bit of time. We're only five weeks in and things take time to click," said Jackson.
"But we're doing a bit of work behind the scenes with the analyst and looking at how we can improve everybody.
"We're pretty pleased with how the minutes have been shared around. It's an opportunity for people to get topped up and get the tempo right up.
"It's a brand new squad and, as a player, you've got to think that I want to be in that starting eleven.
"We've got Saturday-Tuesday games to think about so mentally everyone has got to be ready to play and switched on, no matter who starts."