James Bolton calls on Shrewsbury Town to keep their heads up

Town are looking for a fourth successive win on the road at Charlton tomorrow after recent Montgomery Waters Meadow disappointments, writes Lewis Cox.

The 23-year-old reckons the best way to deal with disappointment is to pull together and steer clear of negativity.

Town are second in League One heading into the south-east London clash, one point behind leaders Blackburn. Wigan, with three games in hand, are two points further back.

Bolton, while thinking about the bigger picture and how Town have made those who tipped them for relegation look silly, is remaining upbeat.

“Hopefully (we’ll get over the mini-blip),” he said. “As a group of lads we’ve just got to pull together and not think too much about it.

“If you get into the mindset of thinking that it’s all gone then it can get you down.

“You’ve got to think of the bigger picture, think where we are now is ridiculous compared to where people would think we were going to be. If we can get back to thinking that we have got nothing to lose then hopefully we can get our form back.”

He continued: “Confidence is a big thing. At the start of the season we picked up wins and it was flowing. Once you’re in a run of winning then it’s hard to get out of, but that can be the same when you’re not winning.”

Karl Robinson’s Athletic have lost just once in seven league games and have climbed to sixth, where they look a good bet to go on and clinch a play-off spot.

Bolton is hoping that the trip to The Valley plays out similarly to another recent trip to a former Premier League stalwart. The right-back scored the game’s only goal as Town defeated Portsmouth at Fratton Park last month, a moment that will stick with the Staffordshire lad forever.

“It was a brilliant day. Looking back it’s one I will be able to say that my first league goal was at Fratton Park,” he said,

“It’s a place with a lot of history.”

The defender explained how he gets a kick out of silencing a demanding home crowd.

The Valley has average around 11,000 fans this season and Bolton is hoping to send the Addicks fans home unhappy.

“They’re always better to play in,” he added. “I love games where there’s a bit of an edge to them.

“Look at the Portsmouth game, 17,000 or something there. It’s good to play in, especially when you’re winning and you can feel home fans getting a little bit edgy to their team.

“It gives you a little boost I think.”

Hurst’s team are expected to be backed by a large number of Town fans tomorrow. The initial 1,000 away allocation had been snapped earlier this week.

Bolton said: “It’s brilliant. The fans have been really good since I’ve been here, better than I thought it’d be.

“Hopefully it’s more of the same tomorrow.”

Reflecting on how Town can plug their previously watertight defence, he added: “The goals in the last couple of games haven’t been good. A lot of set-pieces, which is unlike us.

“With the size of our team we shouldn’t be conceding from set-pieces and we hope to get that right tomorrow.”

“Maybe we haven’t had that luck from the start of the season, that’s a big thing. We got away with a few things then.”