STRIKER James Constable says he will put sentiment aside when he comes face to face with his old team, Shrewsbury, for the first time tomorrow.

Constable, 26, spent six months at the Shropshire club, but has just one thing on his mind ahead of tomorrow’s League Two clash – to stay on the goals trail.

The former Kidderminster man got back on the scoresheet when he netted the winner after coming on as second-half substitute in their 2-1 win against Barnet a fortnight ago.

It was a welcome change of fortune for United’s leading scorer, who had endured a frustrating spell before that, with a virus forcing him to miss games.

But he is raring to start – and feels there is more to come.

“Since I have got rid of the virus or whatever it was, I have had a good couple of weeks of hard training.,” he said.

“I feel 100 per cent fitter than I have been and I’m much stronger.

“I have scored nine goals this season, seven in the league, but with the illness it’s not as many as I would have liked.

He added: “I was pleased to get a few minutes against Barnet and now it’s all about getting back in the team and hanging on to the shirt.”

United were left frustrated when last week’s trip to Lincoln was called off and Constable hopes to make up for lost time against his old team.

“I was pretty upset about the Lincoln game being off because they were on a bit of a bad run and it was a good opportunity to get another win,” he said.

“Although we haven’t been playing, we have done some good work on the astroturf at Bicester and in the gym so we are all sharp, so it’s nice we have been able to train.”

Constable says he doesn’t bear a grudge against Shrewsbury after he was allowed to leave by ex-boss Paul Simpson, who is now at Stockport.

Constable scored four goals in seven appearances for the Shrews.

He added: “It’s the first time I have played against them and I’m really looking forward to it, if I get the chance to start.

“I didn’t play as many games as I would have liked there, but it will be nice to see some of the old faces.

“I don’t know many of the players – I know Mark Wright from my days at Kidderminster – but a lot of the people that we worked with are still there.

“Although the manager did not see me as a Shrewsbury pla-yer, everybody else was great.

“So there’s no hard feelings from me.”

Constable added: “Now it’s about carrying on our form from the last couple of games.

“We had that bad run of five games and then we went and got a great result at Chesterfield which no one expected us to get, and then beat Barnet.”

l UNITED have covered the Kassam Stadium pitch in a bid to beat the bad weather that is expected to hit the area this weekend.