Marcus Braddock looks ahead to Saturday's trip to Bristol R
This weekend, Shrewsbury Town make the relatively short journey to Bristol to take on Rovers in Skybet League One. The Gas have had a difficult season so far and consequently sit just above us in 20th position. The main problem for Rovers seems to be their home form, just three wins at home in League One all season. Fortunately their away form has been good enough to keep them in touch with the other teams at the bottom and an upsurge in their recent form had pushed them out of the relegation positions. The upsurge in form seems to have coincided with Graham Coughlan's promotion to manager. The ex-Town defender is in his first managerial position having taken up coaching whilst playing at Montgomery Waters Meadow. So far his team have won six times from twelve games and will be hoping that a good result in this weekends game can kick start their home form.
Form(League)
WDLDD
Top Scorers (league)
Ollie Clarke 4
Tom Lockyer 3
Gavin Reilly 3
Liam Sercombe 3
Assists
Tom Nichols 5
James Clarke 2
Alex Rodman 2
Clean Sheets
Four at home and six away.
Form
Points per home game: 0.87.
Goals scored at home: 0.87.
Goals conceded at home: 1.27.
Referee
Peter Wright from Merseyside. Games this season: 25. Yellow cards: 72: Red cards: 5.
Squad news
Town have pretty much everyone available apart from Lenell John Lewis and Romaine Vincalot who is injured and Stefan Payne who is unavailable to play against his permanent club.
Graham Coughlan could name the same team that won at Southend last week.
Summary
In a way, Bristol Rovers and Shrewsbury Town are polar opposites with Rovers poor home record the main reason for their lowly league position and our away form causing us similar woes. If we had their away record we'd be comfortable in the top ten and if they had our home record they'd be right up there with us. But they don’t and we don’t and we both have a need for points and this weekend.
Rovers’ manager Graham Coughlan is playing against one of his old clubs for a second weekend in a row. They beat Southend last weekend and as much as I like Coughlan from his time with us, I really hope he doesn't make it two out of two!
COYB!!!