Shrewsbury Town's Joe Jacobson wary of Coventry City threat

But Shrewsbury defender Joe Jacobson insists Town must remain on high alert when they travel to Northampton to face the Sky Blues on Sunday (3pm).

Coventry are the division's second-highest scorers, with 59 in 31 games, with only League One leaders Leyton Orient eclipsing that total.

They have managed just four goals in as many games since Clarke left the club, and have lost five of their last six games. But the return of 15-goal hitman Callum Wilson from a two-month injury lay off following a disclosed shoulder will give them a major lift this weekend.

And with winger Franck Moussa on 14 for the season too, they still have plenty of ammunition up front.

Jacobson said: "Obviously to lose your top goalscorer and one of your best players it is going to affect you, no matter what team you are.

"So they are obviously going to be affected by that but they have still got players like Wilson and Moussa who have scored a lot of goals between them this season already. They have got enough players with enough quality to win games on their own so we need to be wary of that.

"But I am sure we'll have a game plan to counteract them thoroughly and we will do everything we can to be prepared and get a win."

Three points will certainly be the order of the day for Mike Jackson's strugglers, who will start the day third-from-bottom of the league and three points from safety despite a morale-boosting 3-2 victory at Notts County last Saturday.

That inspiring victory, in which Town battled back from 2-0 down, snapped a seven-match winless run dating back to New Year's Day.

And confidence levels will suddenly be much higher going into the game, at Sixfields Stadium, against another side who have won just one of their last eight matches.

Only six points separate the teams – 22 and 14th respectively – and Jacobson says he and his team- mates will be keen to close that gap this weekend.

But he is mindful that Coventry would be on the fringes of the play-offs had they not started the season with a 10-point deduction following financial problems.

And he said Town will have to work even harder than they did last weekend if they are to build on that triumph at Meadow Lane.

He said: "It felt like a weight had been lifted off our shoulders when we won on Saturday but we can't just stop now that we have got one one. If you look at our form over the last couple of months it still hasn't been good enough. Now we have got that win it is a big confidence boost, especially having come back from two goals down. It's huge and it doesn't happen very often in football.

"So we are going into the game with massive confidence but we can't take for granted what we have done, we can't rest on our laurels.

"We need to push on again. There are still things in the game we need to work on and I think the Coventry game is going to be a tougher game than the one against Notts County.

"We need to be right on our game if we want to get a result. It's always good to play teams that aren't in such good form.But we know the position we are in. We are there for a reason and Coventry would still be in and around the play-offs if they hadn't had their points deduction."

"But hopefully we can catch them on a bit of an off day and go and play the way we want to play and get a result."

Town emerged with a creditable 1-1 draw when the sides met back in August at the Greenhous Meadow.

Tom Bradshaw scored a fine second half equaliser after Wilson had put the Sky Blues ahead early on.

Bradshaw (knee) has this week been ruled out of action for eight-10 weeks so will play no part on Sunday while midfielders Luke Summerfield (hamstring) and Aaron Wildig (quad) are also both struggling.

Coventry meanwhile are likely to be missing Aston Villa loanee striker Nathan Delfouneso who is struggling to shake off a thigh strain.