Barton is confident that Fleetwood Town can tame the Shrews

As they approach their 13th league game of the season, Barton’s 10th-placed side have beaten only Bradford City at Highbury.

Now they face a Shrewsbury side who sit 16th after last term’s sensational third-placed finish.

And Barton says it is about time Town started winning at home as they bid to bounce back from a 2-0 midweek Checkatrade Trophy defeat to Rochdale.

Barton said: “We have got really good results on the road. We want to win games of football here, anywhere!

“We have that opportunity against Shrewsbury. I’ve watched them against Accrington and Walsall. They are a team we can beat. Let’s make no bones about it.

“The team that played for us on Tuesday night won’t beat them but the team that played against Doncaster on Saturday will beat them.

“I’m looking forward to the game and it is about time that we started winning at home. I’m pretty sure we will if we keep performing and keep our best players on the pitch.”

And Barton revealed what he expects from John Askey’s Shrews, who thrashed Tranmere 6-0 in the Checkatrade this week.

He said: “We have a very tough fixture against a team who were in the play-offs last year. They have changed identity a bit this year and will be difficult to play against due to their combative style.

“Tranmere put out an understrength side but they still won the game 6-0, so you have to be respectful of that.

“They played a back three in that game, which they have not done so far this season. I expect it to be 4-5-1, which has been tried and tested for them. If they do stay as a back three we will have a plan for that too.

“John might have stumbled across something going to a back three... but for me it is about what we do.

“I’m confident if we execute what we do we are difficult to stop, as Doncaster will testify. In that game we set the benchmark in terms of performance and physical data.”

Barton knows the team that faced Rochdale in midweek will be less buoyant than the one which won at Doncaster Rovers.

He added: “We have got a group of lads that had a great result on Saturday and a group of lads that do not have the same thing.

“We will probably be scraping a few of them off the floor because they will be disappointed with their performance.

“A lot of lads were rested (on Tuesday) after the hectic schedule. They come back into the group full of energy.”