Goalkeeper Glad To Get Number-One Shirt
“It will be a different test from Saturday. Our away form has been very good,” he added.“We think we know how they’ll play - it will be slightly different to Blackpool but we’re fully up for it and fully ready.
“With the attacking options we’ve got, we have no one to fear.”
And Halstead suggests that the match at Spotland will be a very different challenge to the one that Blackpool presented.
Salop now turn their attention to tonight’s meeting with Rochdale, who lie just outside the play-off places in the League One table.
“I thought about it (going on loan) quite a lot last season and at the start of this season but obviously I got injured at the start of this campaign so nothing came about,” Halstead revealed.
“There were a couple of clubs interested from the league below. But that’s gone now and I’m fully concentrating on Shrewsbury Town.”
However, despite being confident that his opportunity would come, the former Blackpool keeper did confess that he considered a temporary move away from the Greenhous Meadow.
“Obviously it’s a little bit frustrating at times but you have to deal with it. I believe in myself completely,” the 25-year-old commented.
“I’ve become a better goalkeeper since I’ve come here and my time is now. It’s just down to me to take this opportunity.
“I did feel that I had a chance otherwise I wouldn’t have signed. It might have taken a little bit longer than I hoped but the time has come now for me to stake my claim.”
And Halstead admits that he had to be patient for his chance, one that he always knew would arrive at some point.
“I’m delighted! I was a boyhood Blackpool fan," said Halstead.
"I followed them home and away but for those 90 minutes, no one wanted Shrewsbury Town to win more than me.
“I was delighted to get my first game and clean sheet but mainly for the team. We lifted a hoodoo off our back and the lads deserve a lot of credit for that.”
And the shot-stopper was evidently thrilled to have been involved in Town’s first home league win of the season.
But, with Leutwiler currently injured, he finally got his chance in the 2-0 win over Blackpool on Saturday.
Halstead has struggled to find first-team action since joining the club in June 2014, with Jayson Leutwiler performing so consistently in between the sticks.
Goalkeeper Mark Halstead says he always knew his chance would come after making his first start in a Shrewsbury Town shirt over a year since signing for the Club.