The compliment Shrewsbury Town manager Sam Ricketts paid Sunderland

Phil Parkinson’s men travel to New Meadow in search of consecutive league wins after the Black Cats ruthlessly dispatched Tranmere Rovers at the Stadium of Light on Tuesday.

And, speaking ahead of the game, The Shrews manager paid the Wearsiders a big compliment.

“I think they’ve been underperforming for the size of their club certainly," the former Wales international said. “In the early part of this year, they have been steady, not really one way or the other.”

“They played Tranmere mid-week and I think it was their best performance so far, attacking wise. Probably the best attacking side we’ve seen throughout this league this season.

“It shows you the quality they’ve got there, which means they might just be starting to scratch the surface on reaching some potential.”

The 38-year-old ex-Swansea, Hull City and Bolton defender also revealed the factors which could cause his side problems.

“I think you have to identify what they’re trying to do, what they’re real key strengths are, they’ve got a number of good players who have found themselves out of the team and some have just come back under the new manager with a new lease of life.

“We have to respect that and then you also have to try and impose yourselves a little bit and identify how you can cause them problems because no matter who you’re playing against you can always cause them problems,” Ricketts concluded.