Shrewsbury Town
nPower League 1
Saturday 23rd February 2013
Greenhous Meadow, Oteley Road, Shrewsbury, SY2 6ST
Kick Off: 3pm
Weather Forecast: Cloudy, 2°c
Referee: C Boyeson (E.Yorkshire)
Last time we met:
Stevenage came from behind to secure a draw with Shrewsbury in the previous meeting between the two sides back in September. Paul Parry opened the scoring for Town after five minutes when Chris Day fumbled a Matt Richards free kick. Mark Roberts went close for Boro with an acrobatic effort before Darius Charles cut in from the left to fire a leveller into the top corner. The Shrews could have taken all three points but Mark Wright’s shot hit the post.
Boro: Day, Gray, Ashton, Roberts, Charles, Tansey (Morais), Grant, Dunne, Rogers (Agyemang), Akins, Freeman (Shroot)
Subs not used: Arnold, Comminges, N’Gala, Thalassitis
Team News:
Shrewsbury could throw new loan signing Tom Eaves straight into the team after the 21-year old striker joined from Bolton. Winger Jon Taylor is a doubt (groin) whilst Mark Wright (knee) and Jermaine Grandison (hip) are out.
Stevenage could give a debut to Gavin Mahon after the experienced midfielder signed on loan from Notts County. Mark Roberts, Steve Arnold and Sam Hoskins will all be hoping for recalls to the starting eleven whilst Filipe Morais and Greg Tansey will be aiming to shake off recent knocks.
The Shrewsbury Scout Report
Recent Form:
Shrewsbury come into this game in 18th place in League 1 with 37 points from their 33 games so far.
Graham Turner’s men have two wins in their last three games thanks to impressive consecutive away victories at Preston (2-1) and Tranmere (2-0). In-between that they lost 2-1 against Sheffield United whilst also picking up a point in a goalless draw with Bury and losing 2-0 at Swindon.
The Shrews’ home form has been mixed this season with five wins, seven draws and just four defeats from 16 games, during which time they’ve scored 19 and conceded 17. However they’ve not won at the Greenhous Meadow since mid-December when they beat Carlisle 2-1, drawing four and losing one of their five home fixtures since.
Possible Shrewsbury line-up for Saturday (4-4-2 formation):
Chris Weale; Joe Jacobson, Darren Jones, Rob Edwards, Cameron Gayle; Steve McGinn, Dave McAllister, Paul Parry, Matt Richards; Chris Porter, Marvin Morgan
Subs from: Rob Purdie, Joe Anyon, Luke Summerfield, Tom Bradshaw, Aaron Wildig, Yado Mambo, Tom Eaves
Key Man:
Marvin Morgan currently sits joint-top of the goal scoring charts at Shrewsbury with six goals in all competitions. The 29-year old is a big, strong and powerful forward who enjoyed successful spells in non-league football with Wealdstone, Yeading and Woking before getting his chance with Aldershot in the Football League. He scored 25 goals in 93 games for the Shots before being released and joining Shrewsbury in 2011. He finished last year’s League 2 promotion campaign with 11 goals and will be hoping to reach at least double figures this season to ensure his team’s survival in League 1.
Stat Attack:
• Chris Day could make his 225th start for the club at Shrewsbury. David Gray is expected to make his 35th start and Lucas Akins his 35th appearance for the club respectively.
• A goal for Mark Roberts will be the skipper’s 25th for the club since joining in 2008 whilst a goal for Lucas Akins will be his 10th this season, making him only the second man to reach double figures for Boro in a Football League season.