Sam Ricketts talks to Shrewsweb ahead of Tuesday’s fixture as Town host Peterborough United at Montgomery Waters Meadow.
Peterborough are currently the best attacking side in League One. Ivan Toney and Mohamed Eisa both sit on top of League One top goal scorers with 12 goals each. Another Posh player, Marcus Maddison has scored 9 goals with 6 assists. However, Town currently have one of the best defensive sides in League One.
“It will be a really good game; Peterborough have got a front three who are very prolific and really good attacking. They were slow to start their season at first but since two, three, four games ago, ever since then, they have really kicked on and got a bit of a groove. Attacking wise, they’re right up there and probably the best in the league.” Sam said.
“We have to respect what they’re good at and respect their strengths and try to work on their weaknesses as well. You can’t do one without the other, you have to respect what they’re good at as they’ve got some good attacking players, top of the goal scoring charts, two of them and Maddison just in behind so we have to respect that and try to impose ourselves on the game as well.”
After Saturday’s defeat at Wycombe, Ro-Shaun Williams is suspended for Tuesday’s game after picking up a red card. However, Town saw the return of Ethan Ebanks-Landell on the bench on Saturday. “Ethan has been back in training and being back involved is great especially with Ro missing out on this game so Ethan will come back into the fold.”
It was a frustrating afternoon for Town on Saturday after having a solid first 45 minutes. Town were unlucky not to have taken the lead on many occasions on Saturday however they will look to make amends against Peterborough.
“It’s horrible losing games. There is a bit of a shining light on it about how well we played against a team that have done really well. I was speaking to them after the game and they actually said we were the best team that has been there all year. We created the most chances against them. But it just shows the level of performance, we had more than double the amount of shots the home side had. We definitely had the three best chances of the game but didn’t take any of them and one lapse in concentration cost us on a set piece and we come away from the game with nothing when the least we deserved was a point.”
A solid performance against Sunderland gave Town three points that they deserved. After another solid performance yesterday, a point would’ve been the least that Town deserved. “We can put in these performances and we are still only 15 games in with a group that’s still learning, improving and still coming together but you are starting to see little pieces which are really good and I’ve always said that we will get better and more cohesive the more the season goes on and you’re starting to see more and more of that now.
"With the win against Sunderland, the performance against Wycombe although the result wasn’t what we wanted but we completely controlled the first half, it took 26 minutes for them to have a shot on target. Some of the locals you could hear them getting a bit irate as the game was going on because we were on top. Second half was disappointing we couldn’t get back into the game.”
Sam gives us an update on how Ryan Giles is doing after picking up a knock. “Gilo is back in now, he’ll be back in training today for the first time. We’ll assess him and see how he looks and see how he feels but it’s only his first day back in today.”
Town’s two previous games, Sunderland and Wycombe, we have seen Scott Golbourne come into the starting 11 to replace the injured Ryan Giles. Scott has put two solid performances in on the left-hand-side. “Scotty’s come in and done really well especially in the Sunderland game and now in the Wycombe game. Good use of the ball and experienced positioning, very good at getting forward. I thought he was very good, and we know that because we saw him last year but to keep himself ready for the chance which he got last week against Sunderland and then to take it I think tells you about what you need to know about him.”