Bloomfield Road hosts Blackpool and Shrewsbury Town this weekend in a big weekend in League One. Blackpool have had a strong start to the season whereas Shrewsbury sits in the bottom half equal on points with a number of teams.
Blackpool currently sit eighth in League One after 17 games. The Tangerines have six wins, six draws and five losses, leaving them on 24 points, three points away from the final Play-off spot.
In their last five games in all competitions, Blackpool have two wins, one draw and two losses. Kwame Poku opened the scoring for Peterborough in the 16th minute and after Oliver Casey was sent off just one minute into the second half, Harrison Burrows doubled Peterborough’s lead. Ricky-Jade Jones then gave Peterborough a three goal cushion, but goals from Kenny Dougall and Sonny Carey brough Blackpool back into the game. However, Ephron Mason-Clarke scored in added time in the 4 - 2 win for Peterborough. The next time out was a high-scoring draw with Fleetwood. Promise Omochere and Jack Marriott put Fleetwood into an early lead but a brace from Carey and a goal from Shayne Lavery put Blackpool into a 3 - 2 lead. However, another goal from Marriott meant the game finished 3 - 3.
In the First round of the FA Cup, Blackpool faced Bromley. Lavery and Karamoko Dembele both scored in the first half gave Blackpool the 2 - 0 win. However, back in League One, it was a loss. George Thomason scored the only goal of the game late on to give Bolton a 1 - 0 win.
The last time out for Blackpool was in the Football League Trophy against Morecambe. Despite a late goal for Morecambe from Farrend Rawson, a brace from Jake Beesley gave Blackpool the 2 - 1 win.
Shrewsbury, on the other hand, sit 16th in League One. In 17 games, The Shrews have six wins, two draws and nine losses which leaves them on 20 points, equal with four other teams and a comfortable six points above the relegation zone.
In their last five games in all competitions, Shrewsbury have three wins and two losses. Chey Dunkley was sent off in the fifth minute and left Shrewsbury vulnerable for the rest of the game. Stephen Humphrys and Callum Lang both scored to give Wigan the 2 - 0 win over ten-man Shrewsbury. In the First round of the FA Cup, Shrewsbury faced Colchester. Cameron McGeehan opened the scoring for Colchester, but goals from Daniel Udoh and Jordan Shipley as well as an own goal from Connor Hall gave Shrewsbury the 3 - 1 lead. Zach Mitchell did score late on for Colchester but it wasn’t enough as Shrewsbury grabbed the 3 - 2 win.
Paris Maghoma and Aaron Morley both scored in the second half for the dominant 2 - 0 win for Bolton. Despite an early 2 - 0 lead for Reading through Sam Smith and Dom Ballard, Tom Bayliss, Dunkley and Jason Sraha all scored to give Shrewsbury the 3 - 2 win.
The most recent outing for Shrewsbury was against Walsall in the Football League Trophy. Udoh, Mal Benning and Ryan Bowman all scored in the 3 - 2 win for Shrewsbury.
Blackpool and Shrewsbury have met 23 times in their histories, with the first meeting coming back in 1978. Shrewsbury have the upper hand in this fixture with 12 wins in comparison to Blackpool’s five wins. In fact, a draw is more common than a Blackpool win, happening on six occasions.