Marcus gives us his preview ahead of tomorrow's game against Accrington
For the second weekend in a row, Shrewsbury Town play host to their opposition in League One with high flying Accrington visiting Montgomery Waters Meadow. The Lancashire club are currently sitting pretty in fifth place in the division with 20 points from their eleven games so far. They've made a great start to their League One campaign after winning League Two by five points last season, losing just once so far and that was the first game of the season at home to Gillingham. This means that they're unbeaten in their last ten league games and haven't been beaten in an away game since the final game of last season.
Top Scorer
Billy Kee tops the scoring chart for Accrington with five goals so far this season. Originally a Leicester trainee, Kee's first club other than Leicester was Accrington who he joined on loan in 2009. He managed 9 goals that season from 15 starts and 22 appearances before returning to his home club. Since then he's played for Torquay, Scunthorpe, Mansfield and most notably Burton where he played over 100 games, scoring 42.
Clean Sheets
Despite great form, Accrington hadn't managed a clean sheet all season until last weekend when they beat Walsall 1-0 away. They followed it up with a clean sheet at home Doncaster on Tuesday night meaning they have two all season and two in a row.
The Manager
John Coleman has managed five clubs, Ashton United, Southport, Rochdale , Sligo Rovers and of course Accrington where he's been in charge twice. His first spell was for nearly thirteen years and consisted of 587 games, 236 of which were wins. They were in the Northern Premier League First Division when Coleman arrived from Ashton United and in that first spell he pushed them all the way to the football league before moving on to Rochdale in 2012, then to Southport and finally Sligo before re-joining Stanley four years ago. It's quite an amazing career, how many managers in the modern game could claim to have taken a club up four levels?
Referee
Andy Woolmer from Northamptonshire. Games this season: 1. Yellow cards: 1. Red cards: 0.
Assistants:Mark Jones and Adrian Waters
Fourth Official: Daniel Middleton
Stats
Accrington have won 60% of their away games.
They have an average of 1.6 goals scored in away games, 0.3 above the League One average of 1.3.
Stanley conceded an average of 1.0 goals in away games, 0.3 over the League average.
In both home and away games, Accrington have scored the bulk of their goals in the last fifteen minutes. In away games, they've scored 3 times in the last fifteen minutes which is often the sign of a very fit squad.
Squad News
Town have no new injury worries.
Accrington captain Seamus Conneely remains doubt because of a groin problem.
Summary
Looking at the form of Accrington is certainly a concern, John Coleman seems to have his team well drilled and fit as fiddles meaning they'll be full of confidence and counting the minutes until the next game. That's where we come into the equation, will we be the next victims of the Accrington steamroller? Hopefully not, as we've seen we can keep hold of some of the better teams in the division, as our draws at Doncaster, Portsmouth and Walsall suggest. We are really going to have to work hard to get anything this weekend but there is certainly enough talent in our squad to get something out of most games.