Marcus Braddock looks ahead to the weekend's trip to Fleetwood
It's off to Lancashire for Shrewsbury Town this weekend with Fleetwood as their ultimate destination. The Cod Army looked like a well motivated team when they beat us at home in late September. At the time, I thought they looked like a team that were going places and that may well still be the case but their form since the start of December might suggest otherwise. In their last ten games, Fleetwood fans have seen their team win just twice, at Rochdale and Crawley. Their last five games have been a little worse with no wins and two defeats. However, none of their recent defeats have been huge capitulations, just the odd goal between them and their opposition deciding games. They've also played some difficult teams recently like Sunderland, Portsmouth and an in form Burton Albion, so we're not really talking about a complete turnaround in performances, just the fine margins we often see in football. Despite their drop in form, their goal difference is still +7, better than a few teams above them and higher than anyone below them, so this is a team that can still score goals. Their home form is still pretty good too with just the one defeat and seven wins from their twelve home games in Skybet League One. That one defeat was at the hands of Ipswich in early October and since then they've been picking up most of the available points at home.
Top Scorers
Paddy Madden 13
Ched Evans 7
Josh Morris
Assists
Lewie Coyle 5
Wes Burns 4
Clean Sheets
Three at home and one away.
Stats
Fleetwood have only failed to score in 17% of their home games.
They score more goals in the last 15 minutes than any other time with six. They also look like they start well with six goals in the opening fifteen minutes of both halves.
They've drawn over 30% of their home games in League One.
At home the Cod army score twice as many goals in the second half as in the first with 12 scored in the second half this season.
They're the sixth best team at home, so far this season with 25 points from 12 games.
Referee
Christopher Sarginson from Staffordshire. Games this season: 22. Yellow cards: 58. Red cards:1.
Squad News
You may have heard the bad news that we're losing Ryan Giles because he's been recalled by Wolves as cover for the first team. The good news is that Romaine Vincalot is apparently well on the way to recovering from his operation.
Summary
This is going to be another hard game, we've seen what Fleetwood can do if we're not at our best but they're in a poor patch themselves. If we could take the motivation and determination from the Bristol City game into this one, I feel sure we can get something. Three points would be lovely but unexpected and as ever, a draw away has to be seen as a reasonable return.
COYB!!!
Marcus