Martin Wild speaks to Ben Herd after the 1-0 defeat at home to Bury

Defender Ben Herd accepted that today's 1-0 home defeat to Bury meant the Shrews had been sucked into a relegation dogfight. Nicky Adams' fortuitous matchwinner with around twenty minutes to go, condemned the home side to an eighth home league defeat of the season and stretched the run of winless games to thirteen.

"We've had a few chances that have flashed past the post and sometimes they go this side of the post when luck's with you, but unfortunately for us they've won the game with a cross that just happens to have dropped into the net, and that's just how things are going for us at the moment. You can't feel sorry for yourself, you've got to be ready to go again and we have to keep working hard," he said.

Paul Simpson was quite forthright in his opinion post-match and felt that Town didn't deserve anything from the game. The right-back had a slightly different take on the afternoon's events when I asked if it was possibly one of our poorer displays of the campaign.

"Goals can mask performances. If we'd won that game 1-0 I'm not sure you'd be asking me that question. That performance wasn't good enough there's no two ways about it don't get me wrong. But I think if we had scored and won ugly, people would have taken that. But you know that it's not going to be your day when they win the game with a goal like that. Somehow we have to come out of this with a positive attitude. It's going to be a real test of character for some of the lads. There are some really big games coming up and we need everyone at it, we need to be up for it. We'd take a 1-0 horrible win at the moment just to get that win under our belts. Wins bring confidence but losses take it away. One win in the calendar year is awful and there's no excuse for that. As players we all have to take the collective responsibility for that."

Bury were in a very similar position not so long ago but with five wins and a draw from their last seven outings, they appear to have turned the corner and their confidence is rising.

"They weren't the best today that's the most disappointing thing, but like you said, they've found confidence that winning games can give you. To be honest with you, I thought they were next to awful today, but we were worse! The two centre-halves Futcher and Sodje really dominated but we played into their hands too much. I mean they're eight-foot three and we're knocking long balls up for them to just head away. You can't do that, we've got to be a bit cuter. We've got a big game coming up next week but they're all big games now. We've still got Mansfield and Wrexham to play with Chester to throw into that mix as well. The fans are going to want a bit of pride back this season and we owe it to them because we've let them down massively this year."

Town have now lost as many as they have won at their 'new' home; I wondered whether it had taken longer than the players might have anticipated to settle into their new surroundings?

"How can you not settle into a stadium like this?" asked Herd. "It's not like Gay Meadow is it - now that would take some getting used to. The condition of the pitch and the stadium is unbelievable for this league, everything about it is immense. Players from opposing teams probably get a buzz from it when they see it for the first time. Maybe that has a bearing on it, they fancy knocking the ball about but I honestly believe we are good enough to beat any team in this division. It's one thing saying it but we just haven't done it this year for whatever reason."

So, the killer question. 'Are we in a relegation dogfight, Ben'?

"Oh, without a doubt," said the number 12. "One win in eighteen just isn't good enough. I think probably Mansfield and Wrexham have got a better record than that so thank God we had a good start to the season or we might be out of it. I'm conscious of how long it's been since we've won; I've almost forgotten what it feels like to win to be fair. Any sort of result will do us and we can go on from there. We've still got a number of young lads in the team but we need to gel together. Confidence might be low for the younger players 'cos they're not used to situations like this, but we need to be in battle mode because these last six games are huge for us now."

Next up are two tough looking away fixtures with Morecambe looking for some kind of retribution on Tuesday week, just three days after a trip to play-off chasing Chesterfield.

"I don't think we should be worried about other teams," said Herd. "There's enough quality in this team to be turning out better performances than we have been doing. Sammy (McIlroy) is bound to have them (Morecambe) up for the game with us, especially after what happened up there last time. I've said we'll take a scrappy win but that's not what we should be aiming for. We should be able to put on a performance but we've not been doing it, either recently or all season really."

The team have struggled for consistency throughout the season, but was it any consolation that Marc Tierney - and Herd himself - had been two of the most consistent performers?

"No, not really. With the current predicament I'd take being the worst player if it meant winning promotion. It's nice that you say that, but I'm just concentrating on getting the team out of this dogfight that we've got ourselves into."

Herd also gave praise to young winger Michael Barnes, who made his debut after joining on loan from Manchester United until the end of the season. He said the youngster needed time and patience. We haven't much time left to get the necessary points to stave off relegation, and the patience went out of the window pre-Simpson. But let's all hope that an elusive win - however ugly - is waiting just around the corner.