Shrewsbury Town Vs Preston North End Match Preview
npower League One Tuesday 21st August 2012
Kick-off: 19:45
Venue: New Meadow
Referee: Scott Mathieson
Betting Odds: Shrewsbury 6/4 Draw 23/10 Preston 7/4
Form
Shrewsbury Town: LL
Preston North End: WD
After drawing a blank in the season opener at home to Colchester on Saturday, North End make the trip to Shropshire for their maiden away fixture of the campaign.
Whereas the Lilywhites are unbeaten from their opening games, Tuesday's opponents Shrewsbury welcome the new-look North End side on the back of two straight defeats.
In fairness, however, both of games coming away from New Meadow, a place where the Shrews haven't been defeated at since March 2011; fellow Lancastrians Bury ran riot with a 3-0 win on Tuesday 1st March 2011.
A win for Graham Westley's men would really kick start the campaign and mirror last year's opening league win which came against Chesterfield at the B2Net Stadium.
Previous Meetings (click here for head-to-head stats)
Since the Shrews and the Lilywhites haven't played in the same league since the mid 90s the last North End made the trip to Shropshire in a league match was April 1997.
North End left the now defunct Gay Meadow with all three points following a 2-0 victory.
Sean Gregan put North End ahead on 67 minutes before Simon Davey wrapped up the win with a 90th minute strike.
The meeting at Deepdale also ended in a North End win with the Lilywhites netting two goals.
A Kevin Seabury own goal put North End ahead just after the restart before David Reeves made it two on 74.
This time, however, the Shrews had a response through Ian Stevens two minutes later but proved to be scant consolation as the Shropshire outfit headed back down the M6 without a single point for their endeavours.
However, the last meeting between the two sides was slightly sooner, August 2000 to be precise.
Back when the League Cup was contested over two legs, North End went down to a 1-0 defeat at Gay Meadow in the first leg before booking their place in the 2nd round with a 4-1 win at Deepdale.
A Jon Macken hat-trick and Graham Alexander strike rounded up the scoring for Preston.
Team News
Akpo Sodje will be hoping to make his first start for North End after being an unused substitute during the draw with Colchester.
However, midfield duo Jack King and John Mousinho are considered doubts but Lee Holmes and Joel Byrom could make their way into the side with the latter hoping to make his debut for North End.
Played For Both (click here)