Alex Neil expects Shrewsbury Town to be a 'tough nut to crack' as Sunderland come up against one of the tightest defences in League One tomorrow. The Black Cats take on the Shrews at the Stadium of Light on Good Friday, looking to register a third league win in a row for the first time since September.
Sunderland go into the game on the back of an eight-game unbeaten run which has lifted them into the play-off spots, but they still have work to do to secure a top six finish. Steve Cotterill's Shrews are sitting in lower midtable but they will be difficult to break down having conceded just 40 goals so far - with only automatic promotion contenders Rotherham (29) and Wigan (36) having conceded fewer times this season - and with former Black Cat Tom Flanagan at the heart of their defence.
However the fact that the Shrews are effectively safe from the drop means they can afford to be more expansive than Gillingham were in Sunderland's last home game, when the relegation strugglers put 11 men behind the ball and defended for their lives before Nathan Broadhead finally found a way through in injury-time. "If you look at Gillingham when they came here the other week, every point is crucial and they set up to be hard to beat; if you are Shrewsbury, you can come and give it a go," said Neil.
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"The one thing I do want to point out about Shrewsbury is that they have the joint-third best defensive record in the league - they've conceded 40 goals in 42 games, so they are going to be really hard to beat. We know the test that is coming, it's not going to be easy, but equally we have confidence and belief in what we are trying to do.
"They have some players who are powerful, they are good in transition, and they may well be relatively direct in the first phase. They are going to be a tough nut to crack, certainly.
"When you look at Shrewsbury, there are very few teams who have taken them to task and picked them apart. I don't think they've conceded three goals in a league game since August, and you'd argue that they have strengthened since then in the January window.
"They've found a good rhythm in how they play, they have a good understanding in terms of what they are doing. But, to be honest, it's not any different to the kind of challenge that we have had in other matches recently - particularly at home.
"The first goal will be really important, particularly if we get it because then it will open up the game, and the opposition need to come out. Naturally, if they get it, the task becomes doubly difficult."
With five games to go, Sunderland are finishing the season strongly, with late goals helping them find a way to win against Fleetwood, Crewe, Gillingham, and last weekend at Oxford, while some of their play-off rivals have begun to stumble. Neil said: "We're in a positive frame of mind and we have a lot of belief in what we are doing.
"There's a resilience and a quiet confidence about us going into the remaining matches. There's a limited number of games now and I think it's going to be nip and tuck between now and the end of the season.
"We've seen some teams finding form at the right time, some teams have dropped off. I think the pressure is going to be there for each team, depending on whatever prize they are going for, and it is going to come down to who handles that pressure best and finds a way to win.
"That's the most important thing at the moment. We've had a couple of good performances in the recent past, against Lincoln and Charlton when I thought we were particularly good in both games, but we didn't win.
"Ultimately, at this stage of the season, it is about winning games. There's nothing worse as a coach than looking back at a game where you have played well but not picked up maximum points."
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