Marcus Braddock looks ahead to the Southend United game
This weekend brings Shrewsbury Town back to Montgomery Waters Meadow to face Southend United. The Shrimpers occupy 16th place in League One having amassed seven points from their seven games so far, which amounts to two wins and a draw. Last weekend they were unfortunate to lose 3-2 at home to Peterborough United having clawed back a two-goal deficit only to succumb to a late winner.
Head to Head
We've played each other eight times in the last four seasons, twice in League Two and then six times in League One since we were both promoted in the 2015/6 season. In the last two seasons we've taken the home leg 1-0 but in the two years previous to that, the Shrimpers have drawn 1-1 and won 2-1 respectively. Historically, Southend have won 28 times to our 21 in all competitions with 16 games ending in a draw.
Top Scorers (cup goals in brackets)
Tom Hopper 4
Shawn McCoulsky 0(4)
Theo Robinson 2
Assists
Ben Carter 3
Michael Kightly 2
Clean Sheets
One at home and one away.
Goal times
The first thing I noticed about the Shrimpers' goal times is that they've not scored in the second half in an away game so far this season. The two away goals they have scored this both occurred in the final fifteen minutes of the first half and both resulted in away points.
Southend have yet to concede in a second half of any game in League One and have only conceded three times away from home.
Squad News
Shrimpers-Jason Demetriou has returned from international duty with Cyprus. Keeper Mark Oxley and midfielder Michael Kightly are both suspended.
Town-John Askey has no new injury worries.
Summary
This is another difficult game against a team that is probably in a false position. Although the Shrimpers have only won twice this season in away games, were they have been beaten it's not by many. They also appear to have the ability to fight back when pegged back like they did last weekend and also against Doncaster in the first game of the season. Admittedly they were
Ultimately beaten but it shows there is a little fight in their repertoire and that we may need more than one goal to get something this weekend.
However, we may be facing them at the right time with two vital players missing through suspension and Jason Demetriou back after a playing in Cyprus and Scandinavia in less than a week before flying home. Combine this with our steady improvement over the last few games and it's possible to see us winning our first three points of the season.
COYB!!!