Bernard McNallly: Sam Ricketts will keep going as the pressure builds at Shrewsbury Town

Now it’s time for the fans to hold their nerve for two or three games. That can be difficult, but I think they will if they see an improvement with the players he’s brought in.

I still believe, if we see the right formation and he can motivate the players, we should be able to get ourselves out of where we are.

He’s got to keep believing in himself. There’s a lot of people who are doubtful, voicing opinions. You have to be so strong within yourself and your philosophy.

Before Town’s latest 1-1 draw, against Burton last weekend, somebody had told me that Town’s winless run under Sam means he has a worse record than John Askey started with earlier this season.

We’ve got to cling to the hope that we’re only a win away from climbing out of the bottom four, but we need something very quickly because time does run out.

I was always quite lucky. At Town we were in the second tier where, at times, we struggled but we were punching well above our weight.

We knew we’d be in a fight and fans did too. We had a little bit of leeway. But I never played in a side that went that long without a win. Somewhere along the line we got one.

The next three games are absolutely vital for Town. Draws are leaving us fighting an uphill battle.

They need something from a tough trip to Peterborough on Saturday – they need to go with no fear in hope of turning the season around, perform like they have in the Cup games. We desperately need points.

With 14 games left, time is running out. The matches soon disappear. Playing great football is neither here nor there, it’s about winning.

Maybe tough games against Peterborough and Doncaster at home on Tuesday night may be to our advantage.

We’ve put fantastic performances in against Wolves and Stoke when big underdogs.

We have to go with that mentality, it’s the only way I can see it, to get a win from those next two.

I’m hoping that the new players have had a couple of weeks to gel. Bottom club AFC Wimbledon come to Montgomery Waters Meadow a week on Saturday and you can’t just say ‘we’ll win that one’ – it doesn’t happen that way.

If teams around you are picking up points then it can leave you in trouble – and, let’s face it, we’re in trouble now.

But we’ve got players in Shaun Whalley, Greg Docherty, hopefully both back from injury, and now Tyrese Campbell – who has scored his first goal – that can win us games.

Peterborough’s recent form isn’t great. They’re not unbeatable, with these players coming back we’ve got a chance.