The New Meadow will be the venue of Shrewsbury Town’s game versus Lincoln City this weekend, in what looks set to be a brilliant encounter. The odds suggest that this game will be tight and the recent history also proves that it has been a fixture of fine margins.
Shrewsbury Town
The Shrews have had a fantastic start to the 2023/24 League One campaign, winning two out of their three games so far, but what has been particularly impressive is their home form, which obviously puts them in a great position this weekend. Shrewsbury have won two out of two, scoring three times and conceding once, with only Bolton Wanderers having a better home record than the Shrews.
Matthew Taylor has been able to create the perfect system which provides balance between attacking threat and defensive security, which has been the key to those home results. He will hope his side can continue this home momentum and turn the New Meadow into a fortress that is difficult for travelling teams to compete at.
Lincoln City
It is fair to say that Lincoln city were played off the park in the opener against Bolton Wanderers, yet they have been able to turn it around in the last two games with a 3-0 win against Wycombe and a 2-2 draw away to Northampton. The Imps looked set to win back to back games in mid-week, until they folded under the constant pressure of Northampton, and a 98th minute Sam Hoskins dagger will have definitely frustrated the fans and coach, Mark Kennedy.
Lincoln City competed in the first half and took the lead before the break, however their second half approach suggests that they were happy to hold onto the 1-0 lead which naturally invited the pressure onto them. Kennedy will learn from this mistake, yet the game plan was almost perfect, it was just the final execution that let the Imps down. A similar approach will be used against Shrewsbury but I predict they will continue to take the game to the hosts rather than city back and provide very little threat.
Verdict?
Both teams are capable of scoring and I predict that Lincoln will make it very hard for Shrewsbury to break them down. It has historically been a close game and I don’t see that trend changing this weekend.
The final prediction is Shrewsbury Town 1-1 Lincoln City.
