Shrewsbury v Burton - Match Preview
The 10-game mark is often used as a yardstick to judge how a league campaign will play out.
For Shrewsbury Town, who reach that milestone against Burton Albion tonight as 22nd hosts 23rd in League One, the clash feels like a key one, writes Lewis Cox.
Town and Sam Ricketts badly need to end a run of four league defeats, capped by a heavy reverse at Peterborough on Saturday. The club have not lost five league games on the spin since April 2010.
Ricketts insisted he would search for answers after the worrying late collapse at Peterborough on Saturday.
Even at this relatively early stage of the campaign, the Town boss needs to show he is capable of halting the slide and igniting life into Shrewsbury’s season.
The 10th game into a so-far underwhelming league season, with struggling drop zone rivals as visitors, it feels like this evening’s fixture holds particular significance for the home boss, with FA Cup and EFL Trophy ties on the horizon.
Burton’s form is woeful. The Brewers’ hunt for a clean sheet in any competition stretches back 20 games well into last season.
They are sluggish starters, netting the first goal in just one of their 10 league games this season, and badly lacking defensive leadership with John Brayford (quad) and Michael Bostwick (calf) missing.
Still, Shrewsbury’s record makes for tough reading of its own. The run of three wins from 23 league games must be improved on if Town are going to find their way out of the bottom four.
Defeat, or indeed victory, tonight may not define Shrewsbury’s season but the 10-game mark, even in these unusual times, is a fair and acceptable stage to judge how things are shaping up.
Burton do at least boast an offensive threat in the shape of striker Kane Hemmings, who has scored four goals in five games.
Ricketts feels that, because of the hectic fixture scheduling, a run of positive results could quickly see a team catapulted up the standings.
He said of the challenge Burton pose: “They have a go in every game, in fairness to them. They’ve never been too far away in any game and have fought back to get points.
“They’ve made sure anyone who has beaten them has had to work very hard for it.
“We know it’s going to be tough regardless of the perception of them from the outside.”
Asked on the prospect of 22nd welcoming 23rd, the manager replied: “I think every game is a big game. I wouldn’t be looking at anything else.
“I think this season will be incredibly tight league-wise, in three-game weeks people can be towards the bottom and all of a sudden top half or vice versa.
“It’s the the next game and next chance to get the points we’ve deserved up until now.
“We haven’t deserved to lose all of those games but we have and that’s how it is. We have to go again.”
Ricketts added: “You’ve got to get yourselves ready to go again, because if you give your all it will turn.
“I want every ounce of effort for your team-mates, the club and the supporters watching at home.”
Town will be without midfielder Josh Vela for tonight’s contest. The midfielder begins his three-match ban for the costly red card picked up in first-half stoppage time at Peterborough.
Shrewsbury injury absentee list stands at 10, with Ricketts suggesting no players were yet ready to return to contention for tonight’s clash.
The boss said there were a couple of knocks from the reverse at Peterborough but, the suspended Vela aside, all involved should be fit to go again against Burton.
