Shrewsbury boss Gareth Ainsworth makes survival admission but lays down player challenge

Salop's disappointing season got worse on Saturday as they were beaten 2-0 for the second week running by a relegation rival - this time at the hands of Burton Albion.

The result means Salop are now 14 points from safety, with a poor goal difference too, with just nine games left to play.

Ainsworth admitted post-match that his side are 'probably' going to be relegated to League Two next campaign, but said there is still so much for him and his players to achieve.

"It's a huge gap now," he reflected. "We deserve to be where we are.

"The positive thing is we are looking at that going we probably know where we're going to be now.

"Boys, you've got to now play for your contracts next year. You've got to play for being in the squad next year.

"This is what I want. And I want to perform as a manager. I want to get some wins.

"I'm a proud man. I want to win games. And we've got to find a way. We will find a way.

"I'll get these boys going. I'll get the training ground buzzing.

"This is not the end of the world, right? Yes, we've had a bad season. Ridiculously, we still could change that if we get better.

"But, you know, we've got to start thinking now about just performances and game by game and not thinking about how many wins we need to stay up or how many we're behind.

“Just game by game, get out there and win a game of football.

"Get out there and go and believe because I know that they've got it. I really do. I see it. I've seen it in training.

"But when the pressure's on at times, that's when it counts, and we've got to make sure that we do it when it counts."