Bradford City vs. Shrewsbury Town Preview

Nahki Wells

Graham Turner’s side travel to the Valley Parade Stadium to face newly promoted Bradford City in League One this afternoon. Shrewsbury will be looking to recover from their unfortunate 1-0 loss to Wolves last weekend by claiming a first win since defeating Swindon 2-0 in August.

Last year’s Capital One Cup finalists, Bradford, have made an impressive start to their campaign in League One. Currently, they occupy the final play-off place in the table whilst Shrewsbury are placed in 14^th position,  7 points behind the home side.

The Bantams are unbeaten in their last five league matches, enjoying three victories and two draws. Adding to these rather concerning statistics for Shrewsbury is the fact that Bradford are unbeaten at home so far and have kept three clean sheets in the process of maintaining this successful home record.

Two teams, Brentford and Carlisle, have been hit for 4 at the Valley Parade so the visitors will have to demonstrate strong resilience at the back to avoid an embarrassing defeat.

On a more positive note for Town, they have won on two of their last three visits to Bradford meaning that this fixture is an ideal opportunity to earn their first away victory of the season.

Having performed to a high standard against Wolves, Salop were unlucky to endure such a late goal as Bakary Sako converted an 84^th minute penalty in last week’s match. However, aesthetically pleasing performances will not satisfy Shrewsbury supporters unless they’re gaining results and, therefore, victories need to come quickly.

Shrewsbury will be without suspended Jon Taylor. His alleged handball on the line, which led to Wolves’ late penalty at the Greenhous Meadow, led to a red card.

Bradford have no injuries or suspensions to worry about ahead of the visit of Shrewsbury, and Nahki Wells will be looking to increase his goal tally after scoring six goals in four home matches.

Altogether, this should be a competitive fixture with Bradford looking to close the gap on the automatic promotion places and Shrewsbury in search of three points that could potentially take them back in to the top half of the table. Town have drawn all but one of their away league games this season and the only exception was the 3-0 defeat to Leyton Orient, who are the only side to still have a 100% record in England.

Prediction: Bradford City 1-1 Shrewsbury Town.

Crawley held by Shrewsbury

Crawley Town earned a point against Shrewsbury thanks to a 64^th minute equaliser from Andy Drury but the home side could have won the game had Chris Weale not saved Billy Clarke’s penalty early in the game.

Andy Drury

Shrewsbury defender Darren Jones was the villain after bringing Nicky Adams down in the box. Billy Clarke stepped up but Salop goalkeeper Chris Weale denied him the chance to give Crawley the lead leaping superbly to his left.

However, it was Shrewsbury who had the first chance to score when, inside the first 10 minutes, Jon Taylor struck powerfully from 25 yards forcing goalkeeper Paul Jones to parry in to the path of Tom Bradshaw, who couldn’t quite position himself quickly enough to make a clean connection, and his short range effort went wide of the post.

Crawley’s first chance of the afternoon came just after the 15 minute mark when Connor Goldson managed to block Billy Clarke’s effort on target after some impressive play from Adams on the left.

The home side should have really been in front as Proctor’s clever lay-off sent Adams free on the right hand side but his shot, despite being a powerful one, went wide of the post by a yard.

Luke Summerfield almost grabbed his first goal of the season with a well executed 25 yard drive that went just wide.

It looked as though Clarke, and Crawley, would rue that missed penalty when Aaron Wildig put the visitors 1-0 up just two minutes in to the second half. Ryan Woods, who has hugely impressed in recent weeks, supplied the cross for Wildig to volley from 15 yards out.

Crawley did pull level though and, after applying so much pressure on their opponents, this was a thoroughly deserved goal. Andy Drury equalised after Jamie Proctor flicked on a testing delivery from Adams.

The game suddenly became increasingly competitive in the aftermath of Crawley’s equaliser.

Shrewsbury’s best opportunity to regain the lead came from on loan Middlesbrough striker Curtis Main. Paul Parry delivered a cross from the right hand side and Main failed to aim his header on target.

Then, with eight minutes to go, Graham Turner’s side had their own appeal for a penalty after Tom Bradshaw went down in the area only for match official Ward to ignore the protests.

It’s fair to say that Crawley finished the game in a stronger position but Shrewsbury’s resilience proved to be successful as they extended their impressive unbeaten run to four games.

After the match, Shrewsbury manager Graham Turner said "I think I have mixed feelings. It was a hard game - we had to defend well in the second half. We don't have that winning mentality at the moment.
 

"We dropped deeper and created our own problems in the second half. Even though we created chances late on - but we couldn't put one away.”

Crawley boss Richie Barker said “We created better chances in the second half, but our final ball in the final third let us down.

"We've got players who've got quality in the final third, and unfortunately it just vacated them today.”

The draw with Crawley puts Shrewsbury in 13^th place and they take on Bristol City at Ashton Gate tonight before hosting Wolverhampton Wanderers on Saturday in what is an eagerly anticipated fixture for supporters and players.

Town Maintain Unbeaten Home Record

Shrewsbury Town maintained their unbeaten start at home drawing 1-1 with bottom club Coventry City in what proved to be a tight contest at the Greenhous Meadow.

Coventry became the first team to score a goal against Town at the Meadow in the league this season and that goal came early on in the game with a 4^th minute strike from Callum Wilson. Wilson managed to take the ball round goalkeeper Chris Weale  and slot in comfortably to give the visitors the lead. This goal led to a series of attacks from the Sky Blues as they gathered plenty of momentum, putting Shrewsbury under intense pressure. Chris Weale performed well, making significant saves from Leon Clarke and Franck Moussa. Clarke had been a doubt to play prior to the match due to a calf injury but was deemed fit enough to feature.

Goal scorer Tom Bradshaw

Coventry went in to the break 1-0 up, managing to keep their lead but failing to increase the deficit for Shrewsbury despite creating several opportunities.

Graham Turner’s half-time team talk worked effectively as, just three minutes in to the second half, Town were level. Tom Bradshaw scored the equaliser, finishing neatly from an excellent cross provided by debutant Curtis Main, who has just joined on loan from Middlesbrough. Bradshaw has now scored in three consecutive matches.

In the end both teams had to settle for a point and the result means Shrewsbury drop to 14^th in the League One table whilst Coventry remain bottom of the league on -2 points.

Graham Turner said “I think Coventry are a good side - but we gave them the start we didn't want to. We had a bright opening few minutes but were poor in the first half. In the second half, it is pleasing to have put in such a good performance and to get the draw.

"We came alive in the second half - and had the best chance of the match to win it. Overall we have done OK - I am pleased.”

Coventry manager Stephen Pressley said “I thought we were exceptional in the first half, we scored early and had numerous chances to add to that.

"I felt we deserved to win the game, but coming here and getting a draw in the grand scheme of things isn't a bad result.”

Town’s next fixture in League One is an away trip to Crawley Town, who are just one point above them in the table and will provide a tough challenge for Turner’s men. Shrewsbury will be looking to claim their second win of the season, and their first away from home.