George Nurse confident Shrewsbury Town can end winless run

Town face a tricky home test against one of manager Steve Cotterill’s former sides in Portsmouth this evening as they look to end a winless League One run of seven games.

It is a return to action after 10 days for Cotterill’s men following the Montgomery Waters Meadow washout against Morecambe.

Nurse has played a key role in his debut season at the club, operating in the main on the left of Town’s central defensive three.

The 22-year-old summer recruit from Bristol City has won plaudits for his consistency in a maiden season as a League One regular and caught the eye with some stylish displays.

But Nurse and his team-mates know only a return to winning ways for the first time since January 2 will help lift Cotterill’s side up from 18th and away from the bottom four.

“Both sides will be up for it,” Nurse said of the contest against play-off chasing Portsmouth. “We need to get away from the situation we’re in at the bottom.

“They’ve dropped down from higher in the table, so it’s going to be a tasty game and one I’m looking forward to.

“We’ve just got to stay positive, that’s the main thing really, which we are. We go into every game with the same mentality that we’re going to win.

“The boys are staying positive and that’s all we want. We’re definitely better than where the table says we are. We’ve just got to keep pushing for results and they will come.”

Tonight’s clash in Shrewsbury looks set to go ahead despite continued flooding concerns in the town and county. The Meadow’s position on the outskirts of town and at a higher level mean it should remain unaffected by rising water levels.

Though the stadium’s location did not save it from a rare waterlogging postponement on Saturday, where a patch of puddles in front of the dugout prevented the ball from rolling freely.

Town’s squad were granted a day off after the late postponement. Nurse explained: “I don’t think there was really anywhere else to train, our training pitch was flooded, so we just had an extra day’s rest, which is going to stand us in good stead for tonight.

“We were very disappointed, you look forward to playing games. That’s what you work hard to do during the week, when we found out it was off we were very disappointed.

“It was a big game for us, obviously Morecambe are down there with us so it was a bit of a six-pointer really, I think we definitely would have got a positive result. We look forward to the rescheduled game.”

Portsmouth’s clash at Crewe on Saturday was also called off late. Danny Cowley’s side, in 11th, have won two on the spin with games in hand as they look to crash the play-off party.

Defender Nurse said: “Pompey are a good side and will be a tough test. Maybe they might play a bit more football, which will suit us because we like to get the ball down to play as well.

“They’re good defensively, we’ve been good defensively as well, so hopefully we can put not scoring behind us and get a few goals.”