Shrewsbury v Reading preview: Pressure on Town to pile pain on struggling Royals

And those boos were probably not because of one isolated game, because most fans would acknowledge a fixture against high-flying Bolton as a tough game.

But they were more due to the overall picture at the Meadow, with Matt Taylor’s men only scoring seven league goals in their 16 games so far.

Tuesday night’s fixture was another match without scoring – their third in succession.

So this clash, against bottom-of-the-table Reading, who are blighted by off-field problems becomes massive. And if the visitors fail to win it will mean they have gone a calendar year without winning away in the league – you would not want to be the team to bring that record to an end.

There is a trip to Blackpool on the horizon soon after, which is a game Town could well get something out of, but with their record away from home in the league that looks a challenge.

Matt Taylor was keen to point out after that game on Tuesday night, that Town are ravaged by injury problems.

The impact Jordan Shipley has had since his return demonstrates just how much they are missing certain players and their injury problems are similar to what they were at the end of last season.

Micky Moore went on the record himself to say the starting XI last season was perhaps a stronger side but they have built a bigger squad to cope with the challenges of a league campaign this time out.

You are always going to get injuries, but the fact Town have managed to fill the bench for each game perhaps hides their injury problems – whereas last season when they played Plymouth with Nana Owusu, Declan Hutchings and Travis Hernes as their only outfield players on the bench – it was blatantly obvious.

Town could be without their number one Marko Marosi for the game. The keeper was forced off in the second half of Town’s 2-0 defeat to Bolton Wanderers on Tuesday night.

He has not trained since Tuesday with the club set to make a late call on his fitness for the game, but Harry Burgoyne, who has not featured in the league for over a year is on standby.

Ryan Bowman was not in the matchday 18 for the game against Bolton with a tight hamstring, but he will be fit enough to return.

It is just as well, because Max Mata is going away on international duty next week, and if Bowman was not fit it would have left Town with just one striker for the trip to Blackpool.

The longer Town go without scoring consistently, the worse this scenario becomes. In league action when they go behind it feels like it is a long way back for them.