Football – England – League One
Saturday 15th December 2012 – Kickoff: 1500hrs
It’s a bottom of League One clash next up as Shrewsbury Town, keen to climb out of the relegation places, take on Carlisle United on Saturday afternoon.
With just three places and four points separating these two teams it should be a tight affair with plenty to play for; looking at Shrewsbury Town’s form first and they’ve won just once in their last nine matches, but four of the five defeats during this sequence were away from home. Recently, they’ve beaten Crewe Alexandra 1-0 at home and have taken points off MK Dons and Crawley Town in improved performances.
At home, Shrewsbury Town have made steady progress with another win over Walsall as well as the aforementioned Crewe and have earned a point against Colchester United as well. Their home record stands at 4-3-3 13/11 but remember they’ve lost just once in their last five at Greenhous Meadow.
Leading scorers for The Shrews are Matthew Richards and striker Marvin Morgan (5 goals each) with Morgan also chipping in with 4 assists and Richards with 2. Former Cardiff City midfielder Paul Parry (4 goals, 1 assist) is also an important cog in their midfield.
Visitors Carlisle United have not fared much better either in recent weeks having won just once in their last seven League One matches which includes five straight defeats to Bournemouth, Brentford, Leyton Orient, Doncaster Rovers and Sheffield United although they did manage an away win at Yeovil Town week before last.
Carlisle, in 18th position have an away record of 4-3-3 13/13 which almost mirrors their opponents today, but the win at Yeovil followed a run of four matches without a win on the road and it’ll be interesting to see if they can back this up today.
Joe Garner (7 goals) is Carlisle’s leading scorer and he has the influential Jon-Paul McGovern (5 assists) creating the opportunities while defenders Matty Robson and Danny Livesey have both chipped in with 3 assists each.
This will be a tough one to call for the straight win but I’ll take my chances with the hosts Shrewsbury in this one and give the quarter ball as they might just nick it 2-1 if it’s not a draw.
Pick: Shrewsbury Town AH-0.25 @ 1.97 Pinnacle
