Shrewsbury v Grimsby Preview

The Opposition

The Shrews were promoted back into the Football League in 2004 at the first attempt having finished the season in third place, they defeated Aldershot Town on penalties in the final at The Britannia Stadium. Their first season back in the League was so nearly a disastrous one, with the appointment of Gary Peters proving the turning point to them staying up. Soon afterwards the club made plans for a move to a new stadium called ‘New Meadow’ with the intention to move in for the 2007/8 season, this seemed to galvanise the club and they finished in 9th place only 5 points from the play-offs. Peters oversaw the emergence of some bright young players through the youth system, with goalkeeper Joe Hart and midfielder David Edwards both making moves to bigger clubs. In 2007 they finished in 7th place and defeated MK Dons 2-1 over two legs to set up a final against Bristol Rovers. It was the first play-off final to be staged at the new ground and the Shrews took an early lead only for Rovers to equalise and then score again in the second half. A dramatic injury time saw every Shrewsbury man sent forward for a corner, Bristol Rovers broke and Sammy Igoe scored into an empty net to catapult them into League One. Last season was disappointing, with the play-off final loser’s curse striking at the Shrews languished in 18th place at the end of the season, but investment came in the summer and they spent big. This season has been a strange one, 14 home wins but only a single away victory at Exeter has left them in 8th place, they have also had two 7-0 victories.

The summer brought a number of big-money moves which supporters hailed as the start of a new era and hoped the club could go up automatically. The Shrews started the season in blistering form with 4 wins out of the first 5 games and a 7-0 thumping of Gillingham. Since then their away form has let them down and their lack of consistency has been shown with away defeats at Accrington, Bournemouth, Luton and ourselves. Defender Graham Coughlan was signed from Rotherham and was made captain, scoring on his debut. Striker Nick Chadwick was signed on loan from Hereford and Shane Sheriff from Tranmere. All have impressed so far this season, but midfielder and long time servant Ben Davies has been in excellent form this season. He was signed from Chester City in 2005 and has gone on to score 29 goals in 106 games from midfield and was club captain last season. Defender Michael Jackson was signed from Blackpool in the summer and has become part of a solid defence that has conceded only 38 goals in 40 games.

Striker Grant Holt came to the club last summer with a massive reputation at this level, and has not disappointed. He has shown to be worth every penny of his £175,000 move from Nottingham Forest scoring 26 goals so far this season, 18 in the league. He recently stated he fancied the 30 goal target, and few would bet against him achieving it. He scored 5 goals in the 7-0 cup rout of Wycombe and the 27 year old will be possibly the Town defence’s greatest test so far this season.

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Head to Head

Draws have been the most common result in recent times.

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Shrewsbury Head-to-Head (19th on The Opposition Ladder)

Last Meeting

Shrewsbury 3 Grimsby 0 (Sat 06th Sep 2008)

A match best forgotten

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