Shrewsbury Town v Peterborough: Rejuvenated Shrews return home looking for a spot of revenge

Town were hammered 5-1 in a Halloween horror show in October, a fourth defeat on the spin as they kicked off their campaign with just one win from nine games, writes Lewis Cox.

It was one of the matches that now absent boss Steve Cotterill told his new assistant Aaron Wilbraham to watch when the duo took the job.

Shrewsbury welcome the in-form Posh to Montgomery Waters Meadow at a difficult stage. Still without their manager – which will be the case for the foreseeable future – Town have been dealt a tough hand in fixtures against Southampton, Sunderland and Peterborough following their three-week Covid exile.

Town are wary to not let their excellent work since Cotterill’s appointment unravel. They face a top side with transfer business incomplete and no influential boss with them on the sideline, but still want to avoid an unwelcome second consecutive league defeat.

Salop have, however, come quite some way in the time since Josh Vela’s red card and the subsequent unravelling late on at London Road. Despite losing their unbeaten League One record since Cotterill’s appointment last weekend, this is a different side to the one in October.

“The manager watched the game and told me to watch that game when we came in,” Wilbraham said.

“We dominated the game for 25 or 30 minutes, we had a sending off for Josh Vela and a few things like that.

“It will be a totally different game, obviously we’ve picked up a lot of form since then and we’ve got to take those traits that we’ve learned from the winning run on to tomorrow knowing we’re a good team.”

The stand-in Town boss added: “After the 14-day break away from the training ground and two long away trips (to Southampton and Sunderland) it was tough.

“The travel is out the way now and the games are in the lads’ legs, that’s what we needed, to come and get two or three games in and see where we were at.

“We’re looking forward to it and hoping for a better performance.”

Town were grateful of a Tuesday night off as the scheduled trip to Burton was postponed due to Covid in the Brewers ranks.

The assistant manager added: “I think it’s enabled us to get a lot more in going into tomorrow’s game, not having to worry about injuries on Tuesday night, to just let the lads recover, get a couple of good sessions into their legs and to concentrate on Peterborough.”

Darren Ferguson’s Posh go into the contest nine matches unbeaten, including seven in League One, where they have climbed to third.

Town flyer Shaun Whalley was one of the several members of Cotterill’s squad hit hard by the recent Covid-19 outbreak, which affected him heavily.

“I was stuck at home because I wasn’t too well, I was just trying to get better again,” said Town’s winger, 33.

“It was pretty much straight back in as soon as I was better. We were straight back in for testing.

“In that sense it was like almost I wasn’t well and then I was back!

“It wasn’t anything like the first lockdown, we all knew we were coming back in a couple of weeks.

“I was stuck in bed for a few days, it hit me a little bit harder than what I’d have thought to be honest. It was just a bit of cold or flu, but unfortunately that’s not the case for everyone.

“I feel good again now and back ready to play.”

Whalley admitted that ‘going again’ was difficult after the bout of illness. He added: “I think so, definitely. I don’t know how it affected the other lads but speaking for myself, Southampton was hard as was going again Saturday.

“You just try your best, I think the game on Tuesday off was a blessing in disguise, we’ve had a good week.”

Whalley said of Cotterill’s continued absence: “You see that (the impact he had) with the results we had in that space of time, it was just disappointing that we had to stop for two weeks but that’s just the world we live in nowadays. I’d like us to start up another run now, definitely.”

“They’ve been really good, Albie and Dave, and all the staff, they can’t do enough for you and are trying their best every day, but there is a good void with the manager missing, everybody wishes him well in a difficult time.

“But we’re all professionals and need to keep going.”