Wigan v Shrewsbury Town: Salop looking for early festive cheer

Salop make the trip to the Brick Community Stadium this weekend to take on Wigan looking to right the wrongs after back-to-back 4-1 defeats against Cambridge United and Wycombe in the last two weeks.

It is the first game of a busy festive period for Gareth Ainsworth and his Shrewsbury team. 

After the game against Wigan, they welcome Lincoln on Boxing Day, they take on Northampton a few days later before heading to Blackpool on New Year's Day. 

Since Ainsworth has come in as boss his side have conceded 12 goals in four games - and in the run-up to the match against Shaun Maloney's team, he says they have dedicated time to fixing that. 

"We're working on it," Ainsworth said. "And all I can say is that day in, day out, the boys are getting sick of me doing defensive sessions, crossing sessions because we need to improve it.

"There are some basics that people are sort of neglecting, and we've got to get back to these. 

"What I can say is that while the results have been disappointing, this place won't be down, no chance.

"We'll come in bubbly. We want to work hard. We want to get better. We want to improve. That's my job, just to keep this place upbeat.

"They're a good bunch, like I say, sometimes too nice. We need some leaders and some real winners. There are winners in the group, but I just need them to come out now and start really believing that we can go to places like Wigan and get a result."

Wigan head into the game off the back of a brilliant 2-0 victory last weekend against Bolton Wanderers. 

And Ainsworth has highlighted the threat they pose - including from Thelo Aasgaard - who he believes is destined for 'big things'. 

"He's a player of immense quality," the head coach continued. "He is destined for big things in football. His name has been knocking about with links to some big teams.

"They are a very good team, on the break especially. 

"We've got to make sure that we're solid. We've got to make sure that we go into that game believing that we can keep them at bay because we do score goals.

"I just want to see some solid performances. You almost think a 0-0 I'd take because it's a clean sheet. It'd be a massive step forward in defensive standards. But I do believe we can win."

Despite their result last weekend it has not been the perfect season for the Latics by any stretch. They are 16th in the League One table with 23 points from the 19 games they have played - so they are beatable. 

Town will wait to see if Carl Winchester will be available for the game. He is the only Shrewsbury player currently injured - but there is a chance he could make the clash. 

Providing he got on the training pitch at the back end of the week. Ainsworth said last week he will potentially need to re-think his Shrews tactics after their third successive loss, so an intriguing afternoon awaits.