Inside track ahead of Shrewsbury Town's huge Port Vale clash

The sides are just one space apart, with only Cheltenham sandwiched between them.

Vale – who have been in pretty horrific form, taking three points out of the last 33 available – do have two games in hand on Shrewsbury, but in this position, you would much rather have the points on the board.

If Vale were to beat Paul Hurst’s side, that would give them real hope of surviving relegation to League Two.

Whereas if Town were to get a victory, it gives them a nine-point cushion over their rivals heading into the final straight of the campaign.

And the Shropshire Star spoke to Mike Baggaley, Port Vale reporter for The Valiant newsletter, to get the inside story on their opponents.

“Everybody recognises it is a must-win, really,” Baggaley said. “Vale have got 12 games left, and they need at least five wins, I would say, and probably a couple of draws as well. If they don’t beat Shrewsbury then it is just getting harder to see how they will get five wins from 11 games.

“They have taken three points from the last 11 games, with eight defeats and three draws, and with that sort of run it is hard to see where you are going to win almost half of your games.”

When the sides met earlier in the campaign, Town ran out 2-1 winners thanks to goals from Max Mata and Dan Udoh.

And the season overall for Vale has been one of frustration.

“It has been a real sort of rollercoaster,” Baggaley continued. “They lost 7-0 at Barnsley on the opening day and then responded really well to that, to the point where they played Burton at home and a draw would have taken them to the top of the league and this was in mid-September.

“They ended up losing that, and went on a really poor run then and they have not really recovered from that.

“That ended up costing Andy Crosby his job in January after a defeat at Fleetwood, which was a pretty awful performance where they lost 3-0 to a team that was struggling even more than they are now.

“Then Darren Moore was appointed and he was a really popular appointment among supporters – had there been a poll of who they wanted, it would have been him.

“But he has not really been able to stop the losing momentum. I don’t think anyone is blaming him for that, but he has had five games, and they have had four defeats and one draw.”

Town’s disappointing 3-0 loss at Lincoln last week was easier to take after Port Vale had thrown away a two-goal lead with just moments remaining against Fleetwood, and that is the kind of season Vale are having.

“The criticism of the team has been, throughout the whole season, is they have looked pretty fragile when things are starting to go against them,” he concluded. “The last home game they were 2-0 up against Fleetwood with 88 minutes on the clock they conceded one and then ended up only drawing the game and it felt like if it had gone on any longer Fleetwood would have won it.

“Generally the crowd have stayed with them, the atmosphere has been good at home, they have been booed off at the end of matches, but the crowd have stayed behind them.”

It is a huge game for both teams this weekend. But for Town, it is the start of an eight-day spell which could determine their season.

They will be desperate to get a result and put their rivals to the sword.