SHAWBURY United boss Declan Allen admits Saturday’s derby trip to Wem Town is a ‘massive’ game for both of the West Midlands Premier strugglers.

Prior to Tuesday night’s game at home to Littleton, Shawbury had not won in five league matches, a run stretching back almost three months due to numerous weather-related postponements.

United slipped into the bottom three with last Saturday’s 4-1 loss at home to Pershore Town, being leapfrogged in the process by Wem, who won 4-0 at Dudley Sports.

And while Allen is not panicking at Shawbury’s predicament – pointing out that they have seven games in hand on Wem – he knows they need to start putting a run of results together.

Allen said: “Wem will be going into the game full of confidence, their tails will be up and it’s a bit of a geographical derby despite us playing at Ludlow so both teams will want a victory.

“When you look at the table, it’s a massive fixture for both sides and, for us, with the run we are on, it’s a great chance to turn the corner and progress from there.

“Our target now is to finish mid-table and if we can pick up a couple of wins from our games in hand, we will climb the table so that is a realistic aim.

“We are not worried about relegation even though the table doesn’t look too pretty at the moment – you have to factor in other things, like how we have played fewer games than everyone else."