Preview: Wycombe Wanderers v Shrewsbury Town

Wycombe Wanderers entertain Shrewsbury Town on Saturday in their 8th league game of the season.


The table currently shows Shrewsbury in 1st place with 16 points and Wycombe in 13th spot with 8 points.

Wycombe Home Record.........Won 1...Drawn 1...Lost 1

Shrewsbury Away Record.......Won 2...Drawn 0...Lost 1


Without a win in their last seven games in all competitions, Wycombe will be desperately hoping to kick-start their league campaign with a morale-boosting victory over table-toppers Shrewsbury Town.

The trouble is, in order to achieve their aim, the Chairboys will have to start doing something they've found surprisingly difficult so far - score goals.

A manager who prides himself on his attacking philosophy, Blues' boss Gary Waddock must be scratching his head in bewilderment as he tries to figure out why a team that looks full of goals on paper is so dull on the field of play.

Not since the first-half against Morecambe on the opening day of the season have the Chairboys shown anything remotely resembling the swashbuckling form they demonstrated during a brief oasis of entertainment at the end of last season and throughout an impressive pre-season campaign.

With only five league goals to Shrewsbury's thirteen, and fifteen shots-on-target to the Shrews' forty-one, it's not difficult to understand why there's an eight-point gap between the two sides after only seven games.

Fortunately Wycombe have only conceded four league goals - mainly due to the heroics of keeper Nikki Bull - and it's this encouraging defensive record which allows Blues' fans a glimmer of hope - that if things finally click at the other end, the much anticipated promotion challenge may yet come to pass.

Alas - some things don't help. - Hot on the heels of winger Matt Phillips' sale to Blackpool, Wycombe were this week rocked by the news that striker Jon-Paul Pittman will be out of action for a minimum of four months.

Arguably the two players who most excited the Wycombe faithful, both were blessed with pace and their absence will be felt by Waddock, who tended to use them as impact substitutes from a bench which suddenly looks bereft of anyone capable of changing the course of a game.

Saturday's clash also sees Shrewsbury striker Matt Harrold return to Adams Park for the first time since he was released by Waddock in the summer - at a time when the Wycombe manager expected his other target-man Alex Revell to remain at the club.

Not one to give less than 100% effort, Harrold has quickly become a favourite among Shrewsbury fans, and many of them consider him to be their player of the season so far.

When he first joined Wycombe in the summer of 2008, Harrold's work-rate and physical presence up-front was a breath of fresh air in comparison to his ineffective predecessor John Sutton. But Prince Harry was never a prolific goalscorer in the mould of Scott McGleish and he ultimately bore the brunt of the supporters' frustrations when results took a nose-dive in January 2009 - a slump which has yet to be reversed.

Hopefully Harrold will get a warm round of applause in recognition of his efforts - but beware - Saturday's game is almost exactly a year to the day since McGleish returned to Adams Park in Orient colours and scored the winning goal which put the final nail in Peter Taylor's coffin.


Shrewsbury's last five games (All Competitions)

LG2: Stockport (A)...........Won 4-0

JPT: Oldham (A)..............Won 1-0

LG2: Rotherham (H).........Won 1-0

LG2: Gillingham (A)..........Lost 0-2

LG2: Northampton (H)......Won 3-1



Wycombe's last five games (All Competitions)

LG2: Oxford (H)..............Drew 0-0

LG2: Northampton (A).....Drew 1-1

LG2: Accrington (A).........Drew 1-1

LG2: Macclesfield (H)........Lost 1-2

LG2: Aldershot (A)..........Drew 0-0



Shrewsbury Goal Stats (10 games in all Competitions)

Goals Scored (Total).........Lg: 13..Cups: 6....Total: 19

Goals Conceded (Total).....Lg: 5....Cups: 5....Total: 10

Goals Scored (Away).........Lg: 5....Cups: 2....Total: 7

Goals Conceded (Away).....Lg: 2....Cups: 2....Total: 4

Clean Sheets....Lg: 3....Cups: 1....Total: 4



Wycombe Goal Stats (8 games in all Competitions)

Goals Scored (Total)..........Lg: 5....Cups: 1....Total: 6

Goals Conceded (Total)......Lg: 4....Cups: 2....Total: 6

Goals Scored (Home).........Lg: 3....Cups: 1....Total: 4

Goals Conceded (Home).....Lg: 2....Cups: 2....Total: 4

Clean Sheets....Lg: 4....Cups: 0....Total: 4



Shrewsbury's Top Goal Scorers - (All Competitions)

Jake Robinson..........7

Matt Harrold.............4

Steven Leslie...........2

Mark Wright.............2

Three other Shrews' players have each scored 1 goal.



Wycombe's Top Goal Scorers - (All Competitions)

Scott Rendell.............2 (inc 2 pens)

Jon-Paul Pittman........1

Ben Strevens.............1

Andy Sandell.............1

Matt Bloomfield..........1



Shrewsbury Shooting (Top-3) - All Competitions

Mark Wright.........14 on-target....6 off-target...0 against woodwork

Jake Robinson......10 on-target..10 off-target...1 against woodwork

Matt Harrold...........9 on-target....6 off-target...2 against woodwork



Wycombe Shooting (Top-3) - All Competitions

Kevin Betsy...........2 on-target...9 off-target...0 against woodwork

Gareth Ainsworth...2 on-target...6 off-target...0 against woodwork

Ben Strevens.........4 on-target...2 off-target...1 against woodwork




Shooting (Club) - League Games Only

Shrewsbury....41 on target...24 off target...1 against w'work (Rank-17)

Wycombe.......15 on target...35 off target...3 against w'work (Rank-24)



League Form Guide

All Season

Shrewsbury...Pld: 7...W: 5...D: 1...L: 1...Pts: 16...Pts per game: 2.28

Wycombe......Pld: 7...W: 1...D: 5...L: 1...Pts: 8.....Pts per game: 1.14



Last Five league Games

Shrewsbury.....DWWLW - 10 points

Wycombe..........DDDLD - 4 points



Previous Meetings

In 20 previous meetings there have been 8 wins for Wycombe, 2 for Shrewsbury and 10 draws.

At Adams Park there have been 4 wins for Wycombe, 1 for Shrewsbury and 5 draws.

1993/94 LG2: Wycombe 1 Shrewsbury 1

1994/95 LG1: Wycombe 1 Shrewsbury 0

1995/96 LG1: Wycombe 2 Shrewsbury 0

1996/97 LG1: Wycombe 3 Shrewsbury 0

2004/05 LG2: Wycombe 1 Shrewsbury 1

2005/06 LG2: Wycombe 2 Shrewsbury 0

2006/07 LG2: Wycombe 1 Shrewsbury 1

2007/08 LG2: Wycombe 1 Shrewsbury 1

2008/09 JPT: Wycombe 0 Shrewsbury 7

2008/09 LG2: Wycombe 1 Shrewsbury 1



The Man In The Middle

Saturday's referee is Grant Hegley from Hertfordshire who was promoted to the National List of Referees in 2001. Last season he took charge of two Wycombe games - the 1-0 defeat at home to franchise and the 2-1 defeat at Walsall. During the current campaign he's issued 13 yellow and 2 red cards in 6 games.



On this day in history - 25th September

Shrewsbury.........Played 13 - Won 7 - Drawn 3 - Lost 3

Wycombe.............Played 4 - Won 2 - Drawn 2 - Lost 0



Prediction

Wycombe 1 Shrewsbury 1

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