Assistant Head Coach Richie Barker says Debry County's squad are 'looking in good shape' ahead of Saturday's Sky Bet League One clash with Shrewsbury Town at Pride Park Stadium (3pm kick-off).

The Rams will need as many players as they can between now and the end of the 2022/23 Sky Bet League One season as they look to strengthen their grip on a top six spot and Barker believes we could just be a week or so away from a full squad being available.

Speaking ahead of Saturday's clash, the Assistant Head Coach spoke to RamsTV on the squad fitness, reflected on Tuesday and looked ahead to the Shrews.

On the squad fitness...

Everybody is really good, to be fair. James Chester is back on the grass and Max Bird is coming along quite well. In terms of the ones that have been playing recently, everybody is fine.

On reflection from Tuesday's 2-0 win over Cheltenham Town...

The most important thing was the win. We'd have all been disappointed had we not won the game. I know there's an expectation on us at Pride Park and I do get that. Winning is a habit and losing is a habit and when you're in the winning habit you've got to keep it and when you've lost a game you've got to make sure that doesn't become a habit.

Box-to-box we did pretty well and the pressing was good, however for the first half-hour or so there wasn't enough creativity.

On keeping a clean-sheet...

It's good not just in terms of doing the right things but in terms of confidence. We're trying to say that the Barnsley game, where we lost 4-1, was a blip and it's easy to say that - but you've got to prove it.

Defending works as a team right from the top of the pitch so it was important that we won the ball back higher up against Cheltenham and from a confidence point of view for the back four and Joe Wildsmith it was important to show that it was a blip and we move on.

On 10 years of Craig Forsyth at Derby County...

As a servant for the club, he's been amazing and as a person he's honestly one of the nicest people I've ever met. He doesn't say a lot but when he speaks, people listen. His standing within this football club - obviously to go 10 years is amazing and to reinvent himself this year and play centre-half is a credit to him. He's done amazing.

The fans should be very proud of his achievement, his family should and as a football club - I got only speak for the last five months not the last nine and a half years but what an unbelievable servant he's been. In a time where there's been some really difficult times at the football club - for him to have stuck through that and keep going and now be captain, it's amazing.

On Shrewsbury Town...

I think they are play-off contenders. I think they were in and around the relegation zone when Steve Cotterill took over so to go from relegation contenders to play-off contenders is an excellent job. We're not talking about a club with a bottomless pit, we're talking about a club that have predominantly spent the last few years in the bottom half of the league so Steve has done a great job and absolutely they are play-off contenders. It's going to be a really tough game.