Sam Ricketts talks to ShrewsWeb about Saturday's Sky Bet League One fixture as Town travel to Prenton Park.
After a frustrating afternoon last Saturday at Montgomery Waters Meadow, Sam gave us an update on how his team are responding after their defeat against Fleetwood. "The players have been fine. I think it's bitterly disappointing with the result. I'm disappointed with the second half, first half I thought we were good and controlled it up until they scored. We lacked a bit of intensity in our game, and I thought we had three, four or five good opportunities to score and we didn't. If you don't score with them opportunities, then you run the risk of getting punished, and we did get punished, and in the second half, we couldn't get into the level of intensity that we need to get in to. It was a disappointing second half", said Sam.
Ethan Ebanks-Landell was forced off in the first 45 minutes of play on Saturday after picking up a hamstring injury. "Ethan was actually injured before the Rotherham game. He played in that one and did ever so well. So, we probably took a risk really by playing him again, but because he came through the Rotherham game and played so well, it's hard not to play him. Unfortunately, he couldn't get through this game, so he's going be missing for a period of time, shorter the better, but we'll have to watch him over the next couple of weeks or so."
With Town being limited on numbers, it was good to see another defender, Aaron Pierre back playing after his slight injury. "We've got four really good centre backs, and now we've got three that are fit basically. Aaron will come under that with the other two lads and fill those slots."
Town striker Fejiri Okenabirhie is also back fit after picking up an injury that left him on the side-lines for a few weeks. "Fey is fully back in terms of training, just trying to build his fitness up and make him as fit as he can be and as quick as he can be as well to get him back fully up and running and fitter and better than ever hopefully."
Town face newly-promoted Tranmere on Saturday. "They are a good side at home, they've had some good results and have scored a lot of late goals recently that has really helped them. It's a tough place to go with a good atmosphere. The pitch feels tight because of the stands around it, and it's not a particularly big pitch. It does feel like a tight game and very competitive and something we need to be ready for."
Hopefully Town can travel to Prenton Park to put things right after last Saturday and bring home three points. "Naturally we'd be up for this game anytime, but given the second half where we ran out of steam really, it's easy to forget but the first half an hour we pinned Fleetwood back in and showed really what we could do. I was excited about the game and thought we could go on and win the game, but unfortunately, we didn't, but you can forget the first half an hour how well we moved the ball even though there are still aspects to improve on in that period as well."
Town's midfield maestro Sean Goss has made a massive impact since signing a deal. Sam gave his thoughts on the midfielder: "He's a young lad with real good quality and really good ability on the ball. This move will be his first real platform where he feels he's a big part of what the club is trying to do. We were trying to use his best attributes to the best of the team and give him a platform to work and improve and be the player which he potentially can be."