Shrewsbury Town welcome Derby County to New Meadow this weekend for an important week of League One football. The hosts will be looking to put more space between them and the relegation zone whereas the visitors look to the Play-offs.
Shrewsbury currently sit 18th in League One after 12 games. The Shrews have four wins, two draws and six losses, leaving them on 14 points, eight points above the relegation zone.
In their last five games in all competitions, Shrewsbury have one win, two draws and two losses. Ruel Sotiriou scored the only goal of the game as Leyton Orient beat The Shrews 1 - 0, despite Shrewsbury registering four more shots on target than Orient. This would be the same case when Shrewsbury faced Charlton. The game ended in a 0 - 0 draw, but despite having less of the possession, The Shrews managed eight shots on target in comparison to Charlton’s six shots.
Fin Stevens opened the scoring for Oxford in the first half, but just minutes before Oxford’s second goal from Ciaron Brown, Joe Anderson was sent off for Shrewsbury. Greg Leigh then grabbed Oxford’s third goal as they beat The Shrews 3 - 0. Shrewsbury picked up their one win against Northampton. Daniel Udoh picked up the winning goal in the 91st minute to give Shrewsbury the 1 - 0 win.
The last outing for Shrewsbury was against Cambridge United. Michael Morrison opened the scoring in the 69th minute for Cambridge, but Taylor Perry equalised in the 88th minute for Shrewsbury as the game finished 1 - 1.
Derby, on the other hand, sit ninth after 11 games. The Rams have five wins, three draws and three losses, leaving them on 18 points, just two points from Bolton in the final Play-off place.
In the last five games in all competitions, Derby have three wins and two draws. James Collins opened the scoring in the 18th minute for Derby with his first penalty and then completed his brace in the 84th minute with another penalty as Derby won 2 - 0. The next game up was against Cambridge, where The Rams played out a goalless draw, with Derby only managing two shots on target, and Cambridge only managed one shot on target.
Derby were back to winning ways against Blackpool. Korey Smith and Collins put Derby into a 2 - 0 lead going into the latter stages of the second half. Kenny Dougall put Blackpool on the scoresheet, minutes after Collins, but a goal from Martyn Waghorn clinched the 3 - 1 win for Derby. Another draw came against Cheltenham. Rob Street opened the scoring for Cheltenham, but Curtis Nelson equalised before halftime. Neither team found a breakthrough as the game finished 1 - 1.
The most recent outing for Derby was against Notts County in the Football League Trophy. A brace from Louie Sibley gave Derby the 2 - 1 win, with Junior Morias scoring a penalty for Notts County.
Shrewsbury and Derby have only met 16 times in their histories, with the first meeting coming back in 1972. Nothing separates the two teams, with both sides having five wins to their names. In fact, a draw is more common than a win for either team, happening on six occasions.