Make no mistake this is going to be a severe test of the lads, Shrewsbury since the appointment of Steve Cotterill have had a massive change of fortunes, losing just once in 12 games when previously they couldn’t buy a point, to a degree they had a start not dissimilar to ours, but they are now very much one of the form teams in League 1. They were the team that halted the impressive unbeaten run away from home of Sunderland, and in recent weeks have also clipped the wings of promotion pretenders Peterborough winning 2-0. They have no out and out goal threat, simply because it comes from everywhere with the whole team able to chip in with a goal when needed with 17 different scorers this season. You can’t say they have been winning by big margins, but they have negated some impressive strike forces lately and making themselves a tough team to score against. When you couple all that up with our Head 2 Head stats in years gone by you can see we always seems to have close games with the Shrews, and even though we hold a healthy advantage in the stats, losing just 4 times in 17 games, only on a couple of occasions have we asserted a real advantage against them…. make no mistake this is going to be edge of the seat stuff.
Looking back at some of their recent games, they appear comfortable taking the game too people as equally as playing more defensive, but one thing sticks out they are not afraid to shoot when the opportunity arises, Harry Chapman seems to be the man of the moment in this department and keeping him under wraps will probably be the key to the game.
Another interesting aspect to this game is going to be Shrewsbury like to play it out from the back starting with their 6ft 5in Montenegrin goalkeeper Matija Sarkic who is on loan from Wolves, so it looks like this is going to be somewhat of a clash of the same style of play as well as all the other factors I’ve mentioned.
Game On.
SHREWSBURY TOWN – THE SEASON SO FAR – The Shrews are currently in 17th place with a record of PLAYED 26, WON 8, DRAWN 10, LOST 8, GF 27 & GA 29 with 34 POINTS.
CURRENT FORM AT A GLANCE – WLWLWWD
SHREWSBURY TOWN HOME LEAGUE RESULTS 2020/21
Shrewsbury 2 Sunderland 1
Shrewsbury 0 Crewe 1
Shrewsbury 2 Peterborough 0
Shrewsbury 1 Blackpool 0
Shrewsbury 1 Charlton 1
Shrewsbury 2 Accrington 2
Shrewsbury 3 Swindon 3
Shrewsbury 1 Burton Albion 1
Shrewsbury 1 Rochdale 2
Shrewsbury 0 Bristol Rovers 1
Shrewsbury 1 Gillingham 1
Shrewsbury 1 Northampton 2
HOME record of PLAYED 12, WON 3, DRAWN 5, LOST 4, GF 15 & GA 15.
YEAR FORMED – 1886
GROUND – Montgomery Waters Meadow (9,875)
CLUB NICKNAME – Salop, The Blues, Town, The Shrews.
THE MANAGER – Stephen “Steve” John Cotterill aged 56 and born in Cheltenham.
He started his playing career in non-league football as a striker for Alvechurch Town, Cheltenham Town and Burton Albion, the latter two before they gained EFL status. He then signed pro-papers for Wimbledon, before moving to Brighton and then finally AFC Bournemouth. He played just 164 games in his career but scored an amazing 73 goals.
He has been around a bit as a gaffer with plenty of experience at many levels including Sligo Rovers, Cheltenham Town, Stoke City, Burnley, Notts County. Portsmouth, Nottingham Forest, Bristol City, Birmingham City and now Shrewsbury Town when he was appointed just three days after the 2-2 draw at Stadium MK, and two days after they sacked Sam Ricketts.
Sadly, Steve Cotterill has been very ill in hospital after contracting Covid 19, thankfully last week he was released and I’m sure we all wish him well and a full recovery. Currently former MK Don Aaron Wilbraham, Cotterill’s Assistant Manager is running the show with Cotterill himself giving instruction from his sofa and previous to that from his hospital bed. Cotterill’s management record is impressive with a win ratio of over 40% and a playing record of GAMES 701, WIN 288, DRAWN 196, LOST 217. It must also be mentioned that his record at Shrewsbury sees his win ratio rocket to over 66%, where he has to a large degree changed their fortunes.
THE MASCOT – The Shrewsbury Town mascot is Lenny the Lion, and it looks like he has a blemish free character and is one of the few mascots to travel to away games on occasions.
FORMER PLAYERS – Akpa Akpro, James Collins, Leo Fortune-West, Andre Gray, Joe Hart, Grant Holt, Gary Megson, Steve Ogrizovic, David Pleat, Neville Southall, Gylfi Sigurosson, Sam Winnall.
PLAYED FOR BOTH – Ryan Lowe, James Tavernier, Scott Bevan, Larnell Cole, Paul Downing, Jack Hendry, Lee Nicholls, Carl Regan, Mark Williams, and Mark Wright, Ethan Ebanks-Landell and Scott Golbourne.
FORMER MANAGERS – Graham Turner, Asa Hartford, John Bond, Jimmy Quinn, Kevin Ratcliffe.
FAMOUS FANS – I tried, but I cannot find anyone other than an unknown weather girl for GMTV.
CURRENT MATCH ODDS – Shrewsbury 2/1 Draw 11/5 MK Dons 17/10
SHOOTERS BOOTS – Shaun Whalley with 5 goals, not many for the front man, but you cannot forget that 17 different payers have scored for the Shrews this term, goals come from all round the pitch.
LAST TIME ROUND – Tues Nov 24th, 2020 MK Dons 2 Shrewsbury 2
Team – Fisher, O’Hora, Keogh, Cargill, Poole, Sorenson (Kasumu), Surman (Gladwin), Fraser, Sorinola (Harvie), Walker (Morris), Jerome.
Unused Subs – Nicholls, Lewington, Houghton.
Goal – Whalley 1’, Pugh 49’, Morris 54’, Jerome 70’
Ref – Darren Drysdale (3 Yellows)
Attendance – Behind Closed Doors.
HEAD 2 HEAD 17 occasions we have met with a record of WON 7, DRAWN 6, LOST 4.
2020/21 – MK Dons 2 Shrewsbury 2 (Morris, Jerome)
2019/20 – Shrewsbury 1 MK Dons 1 (Healey)
2019/20 – MK Dons 1 Shrewsbury 0 (Healey)
2017/18 – Shrewsbury 0 MK Dons 1 (Agard)
2017/18 – MK Dons 1 Shrewsbury 1 (Pawlett)
2016/17 – MK Dons 2 Shrewsbury 1 (Agard, Barnes)
2016/17 – Shrewsbury 0 MK Dons 1 (Powell)
2013/14 – MK Dons 3 Shrewsbury 2 (Alli, Long, Bowditch)
2013/14 – Shrewsbury 0 MK Dons 0
2012/13 – MK Dons 2 Shrewsbury 3 (Lowe 2)
2012/13 – Shrewsbury 2 MK Dons 2 (Balanta, Bowditch)
2007/08 – Shrewsbury 3 MK Dons 3 (Wright 2, Gallen)
2007/08 – MK Dons 3 Shrewsbury 0 (Knight, Dyer, Andrews)
2006/07 – MK Dons 1 Shrewsbury 2 (LG 2 Playoff) (Andrews)
2006/07 – Shrewsbury 0 MK Dons 0 (LG 2 Playoff)
2006/07 – Shrewsbury 2 MK Dons 1 (Platt)
2006/07 – MK Dons 2 Shrewsbury 0 (Edds, Platt)
