Marcus Braddock looks ahead to the weekend visit of Burton Albion
This weekend Shrewsbury Town welcome 12th placed Burton Albion to Montgomery Waters Meadow. The Brewers season so far has been one of ups and downs, a couple of defeats here, a couple of wins there and an incredible run in the EFL Cup. The cup run was particularly impressive because it reached the semi final where they met Manchester City who put paid to any cup ambitions for another season. Along the way the Brewers dispatched Burnley, Middlesbrough, Aston Villa, Notts Forest and of course ourselves who they beat 2-1 at the Meadow. That 2-1 win was only their first of two against us so far this season so a win this weekend will give them a treble over us this season.
Form (league)
WDDDL
Top Scorers
Liam Boyce 7
Lucas Atkins 5
Scott Fraser 5
Jamie Allen 4
Assists
Liam Boyce 4
Scott Fraser 3
Marcus Myers-Harness 3
Clean Sheets
Six at home and two away.
Averages
Burton have scored 1.1 goals away from home with 1.3 goals scored per game. They concede an average of 1.5 per away game, which is why their away record, shows just four wins so far this season. However, their four away draws this season shows that they weren't too far away from a much higher league position.
Referee - Sebastian Stockridge from Tyne and Wear. Games this season: 26: Yellow cards: 78. Red cards: 1.
Assistants: Gareth Mellor and Steven Plane.
Fourth official: Christopher Kidd.
Squad News
Romaine Vincula is still injured, Dave Edwards is suspended and Greg Docherty may not feature after his facial injury last weekend.
Nigel Clough may have to do without midfielder's Josh Clarke (ankle) and Ben Fox (hamstring)
Summary
It's going to be another tough one against a team that's kept clean sheets in their last two games. Doing without Greg Docherty is also a blow but if we can replicate our better performances for the entirety of the game then we've got a decent chance of getting three valuable points to help us climb out of the Sky Bet League One basement. It's obvious from the stats that Liam Boyce is going to be someone to keep an eye on very closely but there are goalscorers throughout this team so we need to be alert to everything. One thing that will help is seven days without a game for the first time in a month so hopefully we'll have a bit of a spring in our steps.
COYB!!!