Shrewsbury's Luke Leahy: Lets finish season on a high

Midfielder Leahy, a star regular for Steve Cotterill's team this season, insists Shrewsbury do not want to be among the lower reaches in League One, where they have spent the majority of the campaign.

Town went three matches unbeaten, including a trio of clean sheets, in taking five points from nine last week in a key period that eased any lingering drop zone fears.

Boss Cotterill made clear after Saturday's 0-0 draw at Cambridge, where his side were well on top throughout, that 17th-placed Shrewsbury are more interested by the gap to the middle of the pack above them – and Leahy concurs.

"I think back to Rotherham, we finished that game so strong," Leahy, 29, said of last Tuesday's stalemate against the league leaders.

"And we carried that on at Cambridge, it was a few days before but where we finished against Rotherham we started on Saturday.

"It's going to take more of those performances to push us up that table. We're 17th, we don't want to be there. We want to be right up the table.

"Performances like that and the togetherness we showed on Saturday will get us up there."

Leahy added: "We don't want to be 17th or anywhere down there. Our performances throughout the season (show) we shouldn't be down there.

"And the players we've got, we don't deserve to be down there – but we are and we're doing our best to get up that table.

The recruit from Bristol Rovers last season, a leading contender for Town's player of the season award, revealed why Town felt 'pressure' on themselves at mid-table Cambridge.

"We've had good Saturday-Tuesdays in the past but never backed it up with a positive result," Leahy said.

"The Pompey game, I know we got beat, but we can look at that as a positive performance with 10 men.

"Then Burton away, Rotherham at home and at Cambridge, there was a bit of pressure as we haven't backed it up in previous games.

"I know we didn't win the game, but with the performances and another point on the board, it was a good week."