Players must prove they deserve a place in Shrewsbury’s squad next season - Gareth Ainsworth

Relegation to League Two was all but confirmed on Saturday as the gap to safety widened to 14 points with just nine games of the campaign remaining after a 2-0 loss to Burton Albion in Shropshire. 

Shrewsbury have been in desperate form of late. They have lost six out of their last seven League One matches - they have also scored just once in their six games, and that was the penalty Mal Benning scored against Peterborough. 

Salop’s extended stay in the third-tier of English football is almost certainly over, and Ainsworth says the players must now show him they deserve a place in his team for next season. 

“I'm not an ogre in that dressing room,” he said. “I've said to them, I don't shout and scream. I'm not that kind of manager.

“But at the end of the season, that's when I make my decisions about who I want in my squad. 

“People have got to show me. They have got to show me that they're good enough to come back out of League Two or compete in League One.

“You've got to show me. And that's what I want to see in the next few games.”

Town have some serious soul-searching to do over the next two weeks as they mull over their current form and begin to prepare for what is no doubt going to be an incredibly challenging afternoon against Birmingham City next up. 

The reverse fixture, which saw Salop win 3-2 at the Croud Meadow earlier in the campaign was Ainsworth's first in charge - Blues have only been beaten three times all season.