A short trip faces the Valiants on Saturday as we travel down to Shropshire to face Shrewsbury Town at Montgomery Waters Meadow.
The view from Darrell Clarke:
On Saturday's clash, Darrell Clarke said: "We always reset after every game and certainly some of those performances in this run.
"Derby springs to mind and the frustration of Tuesday night when we deserved to win the game against Accrington, [it] gives you context that there are always one or two things that come into the mix as to why we haven’t got the results we would have liked.
“Shrewsbury have won five on the spin; this division’s competitiveness shows that you can quickly go on winning and losing runs; they’re on that high of five wins on the spin after three defeats.
"We have played them a couple of times this season, performed very well and we are looking for a similar performance.”
Opposition Boss’ thoughts:
"As they've only got one end, we need our three sides to be loud,” said Steve Cotterill
“We need our supporters to get behind us this week and cheer every tackle, every throw-in, everything that goes on. Hopefully, our three sides will be very vocal."
Fixture Flashback:
Sky Bet League One, Vale Park, Friday 17th March 2017: Port Vale 2-1 Shrewsbury Town
Back during our last stint in League One, Vale secured an important win whilst fighting for survival against Shrewsbury Town at Vale Park.
A goal and an assist from Ryan Taylor raced Vale into a 2-0, and despite former Valiant Louis Dodds netting for the visitors with 15 minutes to go, we held on for the win.
Taylor, who was returning for his second spell at the club, proved provider in the 66th minute when Sam Foley nodded in his corner to open the scoring.
Three minutes later, the versatile player netted one for himself when he got on the end of Kiko’s pass to extend our lead to two.
Dodds, who played nearly 350 appearances for Vale, then grabbed a consolation goal for Salop with a powerful strike from distance.
Unfortunately, Vale would go on to get relegated from League One, but we are back now, and looking to grab our third win against the Shrews this season.
Last Time Out (League):
Sky Bet League One, Kassam Stadium, Saturday 4th February 2023: Oxford United 0-1 Shrewsbury Town
Shrewsbury Town extended their winning run to five games thanks to Ryan Bowman’s volley 16 minutes from time against Oxford United at the Kassam Stadium.
The goal was Bowman’s second late winner in as many games after he scored in the 8th minute of stoppage time to complete a memorable comeback against Forest Green Rovers the weekend prior.
Shrewsbury took the lead against the run of play in the 74th minute when substitute Bowman received Killan Phillips flick-on and volleyed it past Simon Eastwood on the turn.
Oxford mounted the pressure on Salop’s backline throughout the 90 minutes, having 19 shots, with no luck.
Marko Marosi was forced to make a fantastic save from a Brandon Fleming free kick to make sure the scores stayed level in the first half.
Moments later, the keeper was called into action once again to stop a Marcus McGuane low drive finding the corner of the net.
It wasn’t to be for the U’s, and Bowman proved to be the hero for Salop once again with his goal lifting Shrewsbury up to 9th.
Reverse Fixture:
Sky Bet League One, Vale Park, Saturday 17th September 2022: Port Vale 2-1 Shrewsbury Town
Ellis Harrison made it five Port Vale goals in seven League One appearance as his double secured a 2-1 victory over Shrewsbury Town on Saturday afternoon.
Harrison’s late winner came after a substantial spell of second-half pressure from the hosts looked like it may go unrewarded, though the Welsh striker headed home to give Darrell Clarke’s side all three points.
After nine minutes, Vale raced into the lead when Butterworth picked up the ball in midfield and slid a pass in behind for Harrison to fire home his first goal at Vale Park.
10 minutes later, the visitors scored an equaliser against the run of play as Saydee and Rekeil Pyke linked up in the Vale penalty area with the former sliding beyond Jack Stevens.
In the first minute of additional time, Vale grabbed the winner as substitute David Worrall recycled an Ojo corner and found Harrison, who headed home brilliantly from eight yards.
The Vale’s first chance of the game came after just six minutes as Benning met a Massey cross from the right and headed inches wide of Marko Marosi’s left-hand post.
The Vale responded well to the equaliser with Harrison’s shot saved by Marosi after patient build-up before Butterworth saw an effort from the edge of the area deflected just over as the half-hour mark passed.
Butterworth was the next Vale player to go in search of a second goal as more good build-up resulted in the forward turning nicely 25 yards from goal before driving a left-footed strike over the bar.
Team news:
Matt Pennington faces a race against time to be fit for Saturday’s game and will be assessed before the match to see if he is fit enough to feature.
Form: WWWWW
14/01/23: Burton Albion 0-4 Shrewsbury Town, Sky Bet League One
21/01/23: Shrewsbury Town 5-1 Cambridge United, Sky Bet League One
24/01/23: MK Dons 0-1 Shrewsbury Town, Sky Bet League One
28/01/23: Shrewsbury Town 2-1 Forest Green Rovers, Sky Bet League One
04/02/23: Oxford United 0-1 Shrewsbury Town, Sky Bet League One