Shrewsbury Town's Ben Smith fired up by Torquay trauma

Shut-out specialist Ben Smith has admitted memories of Shrewsbury Town's Torquay horror show will act as motivation when the two teams renew battle this weekend.

Town head to Plainmoor for their play-off semi-final first leg on Saturday, returning to a ground where they were beaten 5-0 in March.

That was one of the low points of Shrewsbury's campaign but goalkeeper Smith, who has reeled off five successive clean sheets, is confident of no repeat.

"I remember sitting in the dressing room at Torquay for 45 minutes or an hour after that game and it wasn't a nice feeling," said the 24-year-old.

"We will take those memories into Saturday and use it in a positive way."

Town enter the play-offs having been pipped to a top three finish on the final day of the season by Wycombe.

But Smith knows from past experience that there is still plenty to gain, having been involved in a similar scenario with Doncaster in League One in 2008.

"We got beat by Cheltenham on the last day of the season to miss out on automatic promotion," said Smith.

"The chairman, John Ryan, came on the bus after saying 'don't worry – you will beat Leeds at Wembley in the final' and we went on to do it.

"We just had team belief in our ability that season and I think we have the same here.

"You have to let what has happened go and I'm certainly motivated to give everything I have got for the next three weeks to get Shrewsbury promoted.

"People say you miss three weeks of your holidays with the play-offs but these type of games are what you live for and I can't wait."

Town officials have reported a brisk first day of trading for the semi-final second leg at the Greenhous Meadow on Friday, May 20, with around 2,000 tickets sold yesterday.