From one end of the spectrum to the other – we can forget all about York City and their crappy home record now because we’re dealing with a completely different beast this weekend. Yep, it’s Shrewsbury Town and a team who have won 11 out of their 13 home games this term. It’s no surprise to hear that, on their own turf, there’s nobody in League Two who does it better.
It’s not the most encouraging thing you wanna be hearing when it wasn’t exactly a happy hunting ground for us in the first place, but that’s life and that’s what people say it is. In our favour, maybe, is the fact that we’ve climbed to the top of the form table for the last six outings with five wins and a draw. If you argued that we aren’t well prepared for this one, you’re being silly.
The team that took to the field at Bootham Crescent is likely to bear a remarkable likeness to the one you’ll see at the Greenhous Meadow this weekend. But the one thing we’re asking ourselves is will G-Wezzle be making an unforced change? David McAllister is back in our ranks and there’ll be a clamour for the gaffer to swap him in at the expense of, say, Simon Walton.
We can’t answer that one because our future-telling machine is knackered after failing to get our last accumulator right. But it’ll shock us if we go with a two-man attack to the Shrews. This has the potential to be attritional – the bottom line being that if we don’t score, neither do they. Mind you, with Charlie Lee taking the piss out of defences week-in, week-out, we’ll be fine.
For those who care, Tony Harrington is the man in the middle this time around and has a mixed past with us. In two games, we’ve won a game and we’ve lost a game; most recently the 2-1 reverse against non-league Luton. He’s been in charge of 18 matches to date this term and dished out 49 yellow cards. Let’s hope he doesn’t celebrate an inevitable half-ton with a first red.
It’s been a while since we fired up the PS3 but, with a fully-functioning controller (don’t ask), our confidence levels were soaring. With an unchanged line-up while we wait for EA to catch up with the real world, we nabbed the lead early doors and it looked like a one-niller ’til this beauty of an own goal in the dying moments – though we’re more proud of Beardo taking out the goalkeeper…
You’re more likely to find a fiver down the back of your sofa than win that amount with the bookies this weekend, but let’s see what they have to say anyway. And the Shrews’ formidable home record means the odds are enticing for a Boro’ win (19/4, Boylesports). The draw is 14/5 at BetVictor. Under 2.5 Goals is 3/4 at Ladbrokes and Macca is 13/2 to score against his old employers.
Any questions? Here’s the Shrewsbury Town Club Guide to bother…
