Shrewsbury Town's Alex Rodman ready to go to the wire

Town dropped two points in their bid to cut the deficit on second-placed Blackburn Rovers on Thursday night by drawing at Bradford City.

The gap is now four points with five games to play but Town’s winger, who has recently been out with a back injury but returned with an impressive performance against the Bantams, insists that gap is not insurmountable.

Rodman says that, should Paul Hurst’s men not claim a top two spot, their fantastic campaign and lofty points tally will give them the edge in any play-off tussles.

“We’ve got to concentrate on us,” insisted Town’s wideman. “I don’t think either of the top two will take maximum points so I think it’ll go down to the last game or two, I really do.

“We’ll just focus on ourselves and if we get there in the autos, then we get there. If we don’t, then we’ll go into the play-offs knowing we’ve been a lot stronger than all of the other teams in the play-offs.

“We’ll finish with a much healthier points total. There’s nothing to fear.”

Rodman missed out on a start at Wembley in the Checkatrade Trophy final last weekend with his back problem but put in a fine display with a couple of spectacular runs and efforts at goal at Valley Parade.

The 31-year-old is remaining positive despite his side handing the automatic promotion initiative to the more-fancied Blackburn and Wigan.

He continued: “We wanted to get back to more like the Shrewsbury we’ve been this season (at Bradford) and we did that.

“It couldn’t be more opposite ends of the spectrum to this time last year.

“Sads (Mat Sadler) and I had a conversation the other day about this time last year, the complete opposite and I know where I’d rather be. We’ve got to stay positive, keep smiling and enjoy every minute. What will be will be.”