Shrewsbury Travel To Portsmouth In League Two

Shrewsbury will travel to Portsmouth tomorrow knowing that they can move to within two points of top club Burton Albion should they be able to record an away victory. Town currently sit in second place in League Two, level on points with third placed Wycombe. As a result, a defeat at the hands of Pompey would see them fall below Wanderers (should they be able to pick up a win away at Dagenham) and potentially be on the precipice of falling out of the top three all together should fourth placed Bury also pick up a win.

The home side are stuck in the mid-table quagmire though will hope to move further up the table to put an end to what has been another disappointing season for Andy Awford`s men. In 13th position and on 49 points, Pompey are 12 points from relegation and nine from the play-off positions. They could move to as high as 12th with a win or drop to 15th should they lose and those around them rule supreme.

The two sides have met just once already this season, this being in the reverse League Two fixture at Shrewsbury`s New Meadow. Micky Mellon`s men were able to record a home win, scoring two goals to the visitors` one, though things didn`t get off on the right foot for the Shropshire outfit.

Town gave away a penalty in the opening minutes which Portsmouth`s Jed Wallace duly converted. The score was levelled up just 10 minutes later as James Wesolowski hit the back of the net for the home club. The match remained level until the 72nd minute when captain Connor Goldson saw Shrewsbury take the lead for the first time.

A number of bookmakers (32red, 888sport, Betvictor, unibet) have the Shrews at 19/2 to record another 2-1 victory, this time away from home. Meanwhile, bet365 have 7/5 on Portsmouth scoring first again for the second time against Mellon`s club whilst 11/10 (betfair) says both sides will hit the back of the net at some point during the 90 minutes.

Both betfair and paddy Power have 10/3 on there being a penalty at any point during the match whilst Skybet`s 10/1 says that Wallace will be the first goalscorer once again.

Indeed the Shrews are well fancied to do the double over Portsmouth, the club being the favourites to take all three points from Saturday`s clash. All of betfred, boylesports and Totesport have 13/10 on an away win. Otherwise, bet365 have the best price of 5/2 on a win for Awford`s mid-table side whilst a draw can also be backed at a price of 5/2. That price is available at both betfair and Betvictor.

Pompey are without a win in two games in League two but are unbeaten in six at home in the league. The club bagged nine goals in this six game period, conceding four. Having kept a total of four clean sheets in these matches, there could be value in the price of 9/2 (bet365, paddy Power, Skybet) on them winning by any number of goals to nil.

Portsmouth have scored an average of 1.5 goals in their last six home matches. Both Coral and william hill have 12/5 on them scoring over 1.5 goals on Saturday whilst betway`s 7/20 says that they will score under that amount.

Shrewsbury have failed to keep a clean sheet in any of their last five encounters on the road. They have, however, tallied nine points from the maximum of 15.

Three players have scored two goals each in these last five away games. Goldson bagged a goal against Morecambe and another against Tranmere and is a 16/1 (paddy Power) chance to hit the back of the net at any time. Collins was another scorer in their 4-1 win over Morecambe as well as having bagged a goal against Carlisle. He is the current 19/10 favourite to score at any time at the weekend.

Having hit a brace in their 2-1 win away at Accrington, Bobby Grant can be backed at 22/1 (william hill) to add another two or more goals to his tally.

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27/03/2015     © Frixo 2026