Bernard McNally: Greg Docherty can help Shrewsbury to a healthy position

Greg Docherty has started Shrewsbury’s last two games from the subs bench.

And that decision played a big part it what was an uncomfortable atmosphere at Montgomery Waters Meadow last weekend.

If we are honest, Town were fortunate to beat Wycombe.

It was a poor game, Shrewsbury didn’t play well and the fans lost patience with the team.

I always try and be a mediator and see the positives. The most important thing was that they won the game –that is what Sam Ricketts will cling to.

But I can certainly understand where the supporters were coming from.

When you pay to watch your team you want results and victories. But you also want performances.

The game against Wycombe was flat throughout until Docherty was introduced.

Before his introduction, Shaun Whalley was our main player, he was the one driving forward with the ball trying to make things happen.

But when Docherty came on there were two players who could do that.

It was from his free-kick that Omar Beckles scored in the 87th minute. Docherty showed his class there. And that just underlined he is a key player for us.

Now we have got eight games left and I really think we need to field our strongest team in all of them – now isn’t the time to rotate. And that means having Rangers loanee Docherty in from the start.

That is how I feel and how the supporters are feeling.

He is a match-winner and we are going to need all the match-winners we can get because we now face a very tough game against Portsmouth on Saturday.

You always know what you are going to get from a Kenny Jackett side.

He is a vastly experienced manager and his teams are always organised.

They also have real quality up front.

But Shrewsbury tend to raise their game for the big matches and they can get a result, particularly with the game being at home. To stay up there are probably going to need one big result – and this weekend is the perfect time to get it.

With the way the table is, Town could really get themselves out of trouble if they put together a run of two or three wins.

That’s what I want to see, I want us out of it as soon as possible.

At the moment it feels like it’s destiny that something will be riding on the final game against Walsall.

But nobody wants that. Let’s get behind the players and hope in the next few weeks we can end this relegation talk once and for all.