Shrewsbury Town fixtures 2017/18: Salop to try and break opening day hoodoo against Northampton Town

Paul Hurst's men will be eager to avoid a recurrence of the 4-2 thrashing the Cobblers handed Town on home soil last term - in what was the final game before Hurst's appointment last October.

Town head to Championship outfit Nottingham Forest in midweek before a trip to AFC Wimbledon follows. A home fixture with Rochdale and trip to Oxford rounds off August.

Hurst will mark November 18 in his diary. The boss heads back to Rotherham's New York Stadium as boss to get one over on the club he served as a player for 15 years, making 494 appearances - the second-most in Millers' history.

Rotherham were relegation from The Championship last season.

Click here for full list of Shrewsbury fixtures

A Christmas away double-header will see Shrewsbury fans clocking up the miles. They head to Wigan, also relegated last season, on Boxing Day before a mammoth trek to Southend on December 30.

Though home games against Oldham on January 1 and Gillingham on January 6 should ease New Year headaches.

Whereas Shrews have welcomed MK Dons to Greenhous Meadow twice on the opening day in four years, the Dons will visit Town on the final day of the 2017/18 season, May 5.

Town head to newly-promoted Blackpool the week before.

Other clashes worth looking out for are the anticipated visit to Portsmouth Fratton Park on January 27, while the arduous trip to Plymouth is October 14.

Town head to former Premier League side Blackburn Rovers on January 13, while Doncester Rovers will welcome Town to the Keepmoat Stadium on September 26.

Shrewsbury have been given odds of 80-1 to win League One next season.

Hurst, who featured in Rotherham's 1996 Football League Trophy final win against Shrewsbury at Wembley, admitted he is keen to reignite his history with the Millers.

"We've got a home game first with Northampton and a couple of fixtures (early) against teams we played at the back end of last season," said the Town boss.

"Obviously there'll be different squads put together but we'll know some of them.

"After that the Rotherham games, because of my history with that football club.

"But it's very much a case of we play everyone. You have a look through, there's certainly no easy games - but at least we know where we are now."

December 30's mammoth trek to Southend is followed by a home clash against Oldham two days later on January 1 - a move Hurst labelled as strange.

He added: "Certainly one that stands out is the Christmas period, which is often busy, we've got to travel to Southend then two days later playing Oldham at home seems a strange decision with a hell of a long journey.

"But we'll have to deal with that when it comes around.

"It'll certainly test the squad. There's not much turnaround and recovery. I think back to my first game when I took over - it'll be a tough period.

"But there's a lot of football to be played before then and we'll have things in place to cope with that."

With Port Vale dropping out of League One, Town average mile counter has heavily increased with Portsmouth, Plymouth, Blackpool, Doncaster, Rotherham, Wigan and Blackburn all entering the league.

The boss said: "We lost a couple of local games. Portsmouth and Plymouth are a lot of travel. Doncaster and Rotherham are easier for myself! But still not the closest of journeys - we lost Port Vale.

"Walsall's an obvious one for locality which would've made sense around the Christmas period but it's not to be.

"We'll have to work on recovery and make sure we're there at the right time and things like that to give players the best chance of performing."