Shropshire Star

League One safety points target is hard to pinpoint – Shrewsbury boss Sam Ricketts

Shrewsbury chief Sam Ricketts admits it is unclear what points total is required to survive the drop in League One this season.

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Fifty points have been enough for third tier survival in seven of the last 10 seasons, but the Town boss feels the picture is not straight-forward given the tight nature of the bottom of the table.

Town sit 21st in League One, having moved up a place after Tuesday’s fixtures involving their rivals, with 33 points from 32 games.

With 14 league games remaining – beginning at play-off chasing Peterborough on Saturday – Shrewsbury appear to need at least five victories to close in on 50 points.

“You’re looking around the same sort of (50 point) markers really but you just don’t know because it depends on what other teams get,” said Ricketts. “There are so many teams around us.

“Does that mean it’s going to be higher or does that mean it’s going to be lower?

“Ultimately it depends on what the bottom 10 teams do – that will result in what is needed this year.”

Drop zone rivals Oxford, Gillingham and Rochdale all fell to defeats – the latter to bottom club AFC Wimbledon – on Tuesday, while Bristol Rovers took a point at Portsmouth.

Shrewsbury and Bristol Rovers have a game in hand on each of the other clubs in the bottom 10. Ricketts’ men are a point from safety, and a win could lift them four places to 17th.

The Town boss, who has won one of his 12 league games in charge, added: “There are so many teams, bottom eight, nine, 10, potential Blackpool with what goes on there (with reported possible points deduction). Everything can change very, very quickly with a win or back-to-back wins.

“You’ve seen it with a couple of teams starting to climb, Plymouth and Scunthorpe, they’ve put a little run together and are jumping a lot of places because it’s so tight.”