We look ahead to the final pre-season game at home to Hibs
Our final pre-season friendly is against Hibernian F.C, a team that has already seen competitive action this closed season. The highlight of their pre-season was their two legged Europa League qualifier against Brondby of Denmark. There was little between the two teams with both winning their away leg 1-0 so penalties ensued which didn't work out for the Edinburgh club.In their other pre-season games things have gone pretty well, a 1-1 draw in the opener at Berwick Rangers and big wins at home to Motherwell (4-1) and at Edinburgh City (6-1). Most recently Hibs hosted Birmingham City and won 1-0 so we have that in common.
The Manager
Neil Lennon will still be relatively fresh in some peoples minds as a talented midfield player for Crewe, Leicester City and Celtic amongst others. In management Lennon has managed at a very high level, taking Celtic to the last 16 of the Champions League during his four years there from 2010 to 2014. In May of 2014 Lennon and Celtic parted company and he emerged as Bolton the following October. His time at Bolton was a struggle and although he helped spare them relegation in his first season, the Irishman had to contend with financial difficulties and resigned in March of this year not long before his team was relegated. Lennon took the Hibernian reins in June of this year.
Familiar Faces
Hibs have at least two players that I can remember playing for us, one I remember slightly better than the other. The most recent of the two is Fraser Fyvie who started his career with Aberdeen but moved south to Wigan in the summer of 2012. His time with us was on loan from Wigan and although it was only four games in 2014, I do remember him having potential as a bit of a midfield dynamo.
Hibs second ex-Shrewsbury player was our top scorer in the 2008/9 season and moved on to play in the highest league in the land with Norwich and later Aston Villa. Grant Holt came to us in 2008 as our joint record signing from Nottingham Forest where his career had stalled. It was a successful reboot for Holt who moved on after just one season for an undisclosed fee to Norwich. In his time hear he'd proved his worth as a striker with 27 goals in all competitions, covered more ground than any other player in League Two and was a pleasure to watch.
Prediction
As ever, difficult to call a pre-season game because it's partly a training exercise to pull the players together as a team. Having said that, it's our last friendly and I would hope that we will look more like a team than we did in our first friendly. I think either team could take this one but we could always cancel each-other out. Having both beaten Birmingham at home 1-0 in pre-season, I wouldn't be surprised to see us draw.
Prediction: Shrewsbury Town 1-1 Hibernian
COYB!!!
Marcus Braddock
Tickets:
Ticket Prices for the game have been set at:-
Adults - £10
Concessions - £5
U18s - £1
Tickets can be purchased in the following ways:
In person at the Greenhous Meadow ticket office
By calling 01743 273943
Via our online ticketing site - click here