Shrewsbury Town vs Tranmere Rovers
Greenhous Meadow
3pm
N-Power League One
View from Shrewsbury Town
Last time out saw Shrewsbury take all three points against a much hyped Preston North End side. The Lilywhites were tipped for promotion as their summer recruitment totalled 19 players, including two from Shrewsbury Town, however, that was compensated by the arrival of ex-Lilywhite Paul Parry, and it was the individual who smashed in a 20-yard scorcher on just 4 minutes. Salop really turned up the volume of quality on Tuesday night as the midfield produced some wonderful and sublime passing as well as fire power upfront and solid defending at the back. The Preston team looked like it still had problem gelling – a problem if you bring in too many players.
Onto today’s game! Tranmere Rovers are the early season pace-setters with two wins from two games which has seen them soar to the top of the table – namely due to the excellence of Andy Robinson who helped Tranmere’s 3-0 win over Carlisle United with a hat-trick – A result I am sure they will be out to repeat against us at the Greenhous Meadow. The Mersey-side will be hoping that their early-season quality will be will carry on beyond this Saturday’s game but one factor that is on our side is our home form – something which was strengthened on Tuesday night.
Andy Robinson celebrating with team-mates after his hat-trick vs Carlise United.
Our home form is something that cemented our promotion to League One and Tuesday’s game was a demonstration that we can certainly hold our own in League One and can certainly keep our record intact for at least another few weeks as we look to boost the players’ confidence even further. One player who looks to be trying to re-discover his form is Mark Wright. The Shrews’ winger didn’t have a very good couple of weeks against Leeds and Sheffield United respectively but vs Preston he absolutely bossed the wing with fellow wide man, Paul Parry. Another player in which I would like to see get more of a run-out vs Tranmere Rovers is Tom Bradshaw. He looked solid when he came on for a short while on Tuesday and would like him to have a good run out on Saturday. We have some good striking options in Marvin Morgan and Terry Gornell but, with Morgan especially, he just can’t put the ball away. Marvin has the quality, but not the finishing so that’s where I believe we could do with another forward or give young Tom Bradshaw a chance.
Our quality of play vs Preston North End was something to behold. The Blue and Amber team certainly looked to have a new lease of life against The Lilywhites and based on what I have seen so far this season I am convinced that we will hold our own in League One and build upon that next season. It was great to see last season’s squad that stayed on mix well with the summer recruitments and that is a must have if we are to stay up and beyond as one of the staple reasons we got promoted last season was the togetherness and the spirit of team.
Ones to watch
Shrewsbury Town will be calling upon the Paul Parry to add to his goal tally and produce the same quality that he did on Tuesday night. Also is defender Jermaine Grandison. He defends well but can add some deadly pace through the middle or on the wings with a touch of quality to go with it.
Tranmere Rovers we be calling upon hat-trick hero Andy Robinson to repeat his on-field show from Cumbria down in Shropshire on Saturday and keep up the 100% record in League One.
Summary
My team vs Tranmere Rovers.
I think we should stick with the same team that started against Preston on Tuesday. The defense of Grandison and co was solid enough to see off any North End challenges, the quality of the midfield that includes the captain Matt Richards will hopefully be enough to better the Tranmere Rovers attack and our forwards should be up to the challenge of adding pace in going forward.
I think it will be another test for Salop this weekend, we will need to be at our best if we are to get the better of the early season pace-setters from the banks of the River Mersey. I do believe that our home record, mixed with our quality, pace and team spirit can help us get something from the game. Paul Parry on the wing, Grandison in defence and hopefully a more clinical Marvin Morgan up front will be enough to get us a win. It’s going to be a narrow one with a few goals on Saturday and we will really have to be at our best if we want to double our points tally. Shrewsbury 3-2 Tranmere Rovers.
View from Tranmere Rovers – Mike Pendergast
Our early season form has surprised many – including our own supporters! Ronnie Moore came back as manager earlier this year following our 2 season ‘physio as manager’ experiment (which, incidentally, followed our 4 month ‘John Barnes as manager’ experiment – both of which failed dismally).
Moore was re-appointed as manager in March and immediately turned Tranmere’s fortunes around, playing more attacking football and taking the game to opponents, in stark contrast to Les Parry, the physio-manager hybrid, whose strategy was to see how long we could go without conceding a goal (answer – not long).
Tranmere pulled clear of the relegation zone and Moore set about the task of rebuilding the squad over the summer, with 10 players leaving and 9 arriving, as well as Ben Burgess who was signed and then subsequently retired a couple of weeks later when he realised who he had signed for!
Pre-season went well with the club going unbeaten throughout. The games against Orient, where Tranmere dominated the game with 65% possession and won 3-1 thanks to a brace from Jean Louis Akpo Akpro (difficult to think of a chant for that one) and an excellent finish from Zoumana Bakayogo (we don’t do easy names at Tranmere sorry!). By the way, if you hear Tranmere fans apparently booing on Saturday, they may well be shouting ‘Zooooooooom!’ which sounds remarkable similar.
So, I would expect a largely unchanged line up on Saturday, as the team which had beaten Orient then made the trek up to Carlisle, a place where we always, always lose, and convincingly won 3-0 thanks to a quite wonderful Andy Robinson hat-trick. Robinson was our most talented player last year, but always seemed to be slightly unfit and was prone to injury, however he seems to have improved his fitness over the summer and has come back firing on all cylinders. He is certainly our most creative player and the hattrick against Carlisle will have boosted his confidence no end.
To run through our side, in goal we have Owain Fon Williams (complicated name again!), who had been very consistent and reliable since signed last year. Our back four has been a bit mix and match, with early season injuries to Ian Goodison, and Mark Mcchrystal, last years’ centre back pairing, however Ben Gibson was brought in on loan from Middlesborough and has settled remarkable well. I would expect Gibson and Ash Taylor to retain their places in the centre of defence, with Danny Holmes at right back and Zoooooom at left back. Bakayogo is somewhat of an enigma – very pacy and tricky but can disappear from games on occasion.
In midfield, James Wallace, signed from Everton over the close season following a successful loan spell, will probably again be paired with Liam Palmer, who bears a striking resemblance to Carlton Palmer but is, in fact, no relation. Palmer was brought in on a free from Sheffield Wednesday in the summer. On the wings, Andy Robinson will be looking to carry on where he left off on Tuesday, and Joe Thompson, a summer signing from Rochdale who has had a quiet couple of games and will be looking to show some form. Up front, JL Akpo Akpro, who scored 2 on the opening day, and Jake Cassidy who has returned on a 6 month loan following a successful loan spell last season from Wolves, both have the ability to hurt Shrewsbury.
Tranmere’s substitutes bench is also looking stronger this year, with 6 foot 9 keeper Mooney, youth prospect Cole Stockton who scored in our League Cup win over Chesterfield and Abdulai Bell-Baggie (another name to conjure with) another speedy winger.
It will be nice to see a few old faces in the Shrewsbury line up; in fact many ex Tranmere players tend to end up at the New Meadow – Grandison, Gornell, and Hazell are all former Rovers.
Shrewsbury’s home run is impressive (although I would point out that your last home defeat was, in fact, 0-2 to Tranmere in a pre-season friendly last season!) but Tranmere’s victory at Carlisle was excellent, and I would expect us to shade it. 2-1 to Tranmere.
Up The Town 