Vale Park plays host this Saturday, and its Shrewsbury Town that travel to Burslem to face the mighty Valiants on Saturday.
Salop come into this having won two matches in a row, whilst Vale have drawn their last two matches.
Here is some interesting pre-match reading before the first league clash between these sides since 2017.
The view from Darrell Clarke:
“Shrewsbury are now in their eighth season in League One,” explained Darrell Clarke.
“They have recruited Championship and top-end League One players and they will have a good go at it, we expect a tough encounter.
“Steve Cotterill is a very experienced and successful manager so I wouldn’t be surprised if they are there or thereabouts.
“We have got good players, a squad that I believe in, and we can hurt teams – the confidence and morale in the camp is good with where we are heading as a group.”
Opposition’s Boss thoughts:
Assistant Manager Aaron Wilbraham took on media duties for this one, and he said:
"They've [Vale] had a good start to the season so we'll have to be at our best to get a result.
"It's another tough game against a newly promoted side but we've got momentum, so we have to make sure we're up for the fight."
Fixture Flashback:
Papa Johns Trophy, Vale Park, Tuesday 3rd September 2019: Port Vale 2-1 Shrewsbury Town
We don’t have to go very far back for this fixture flashback, only rewinding three years to the last meeting between these two.
It was the first match of the Papa John's trophy group stage, and Vale managed to get off to a winning start thanks to Jordan Archer, who marked his debut by coming off the bench to score the match-winning goal as the Valiants picked up a 2-1 win.
The home side would have to come from behind to secure the victory, because, at the 27-minute mark, Shrewsbury took the lead, Ryan Barnett, who had been causing problems, got down the right and sent a low ball into the box.
Just after the hour mark, Vale responded, David Amoo raced into the box and was caught between two defenders, he was brought down and the Valiants were awarded a penalty.
After being fouled, Amoo was the man to step up at the spot and he fired the ball into the back of the net, sending Joe Murphy the wrong way, to bring Vale level in the 63rd minute.
Soon after, debutant Archer made a big impact, after coming on for Captain Tom Pope, as he found the back of the net from a James Gibbons cross, which proved to be the difference on the night.
Vale’s first clear opportunity came moments after the visitors took the lead, with Cristian Montano making a good run down the wing before sending the ball into the box where it was met by David Amoo but he was denied by the post.
Vale started the second period well; Gibbons had a free-kick from 25-yards out saved and Pope sent a dangerous ball into the box which was just out the reach of Amoo.
In the 58th minute, Captain Pope was replaced by new starlet Archer, and he nearly made an instant impact as he stole the ball off of Donald Love and drove into the box where he pulled the ball across the face of goal, but it was cleared for a corner.
Vale held on, in the end, to secure a win on the opening day of the competition, and they will be hoping for a similar result come Saturday.
Port Vale | Brown, Gibbons, Smith, Kennedy, Crookes, Evans, Taylor (64’ Cullen), Lloyd, Amoo (70’ Worrall), Montano, Pope (58’ Archer).
Unused Subs | Maddison, Joyce, Legge, Burgess.
Shrewsbury Town | Murphy, Walker, Ebanks-Landell, Love (83’ Morison), Golbourne, Barnett, Goss, Laurent, Thompson (57’ McCormick), Whalley, Udoh.
Unused Subs | O’Leary, Edwards, Rowland, Taylor, Ward.
Last Time Out (League):
Sky Bet League One, Montgomery Waters Meadow, Tuesday 13th September 2022: Shrewsbury Town 3-2 Exeter City
Chey Dunkley struck a stoppage-time winner a Salop made an incredible recovery to come from 2-0 down to beat Exeter City 3-2 at Montgomery Waters Meadow.
Goals from Matthew Pennington, Tom Bayliss, and summer signing, Dunkley, overturned the two-goal deficit that had been secured by Pierce Sweeney and Johnathan Grounds to put the visitors two goals up.
Sweeney netted the first for the Grecians after just 17 minutes, drifting in at the back post to lash home after Jevani Brown’s corner deflected off of Rekeem Harper to their captain.
Only minutes later, City doubled their lead through Grounds, who unintentionally flicked home from a powerful Jack Sparkes effort.
In a crazy couple of minutes, another goal came, this time from the home side when Pennington struck home well from a corner to finish.
After 13 minutes without a goal, which felt like a long time with the regularity of strikes earlier in the match, Salop got their equaliser through Bayliss who fired past Jamal Blackman from inside the box.
The pandemonium ensued in additional time, when Dunkley latched onto a long throw to fire past Blackman, securing the three points for Town.
After an action-packed first half, the opening stages of the period showed no signs of slowing down, with Bayliss going on a 25-yard run, before drilling an effort low which was tipped round the post by Blackman.
At the hour mark, Exeter came close to taking the lead when Sam Nombe was slipped in, but Marko Marosi brilliantly got down to parry the ball away from danger.
Moments before they got their winner, the Shrews came very close through George Nurse, who struck the crossbar with a first-time effort.
Ins and Outs:
Arrivals:
Shrewsbury brought in a total of nine players over the course of the summer as they looked to strengthen the side that stayed up last season.
Two of those signings were goal scorers in their last match, both Tom Bayliss and Chey Dunkley scored the second and third against Exeter City, and they signed from Preston North End and Sheffield Wednesday respectively.
Another major addition to their squad this summer was that of Aiden O’Brien who moved from fellow League One side Portsmouth.
All arrivals | Chey Dunkley, Tom Bayliss, Aiden O’Brien, Jordan Shipley, Taylor Moore, Carl Winchester, Julien Da Costa, Christian Saydee, Robert Street
Departures:
There weren’t too many outgoings in Shropshire this summer, with only seven players leaving the side for new adventures.
One major departure from this summer was the loss of Shaun Whalley who has moved from Salop to Accrington Stanley.
Whalley played over 250 times for Shrewsbury in seven seasons at the club, so it must be weird for the fans from the Shropshire side to see his name be on the back of another shirt.
Ethan Ebanks-Landell also left Town this summer after making over 100 appearances in three seasons for the club before his move to Rochdale.
All Departures | Josh Vela, David Davis, Aaron Pierre, Ethan Ebanks-Landell, Shaun Whalley, Joshua Daniels, Cameron Gregory
Team news:
It looks like the visitors have no injury problems and they will bring a full squad to Vale Park on Saturday.
Form: LDLWW
23/08/22: Shrewsbury Town 0-1 Burnley, Carabao Cup second round
27/08/22: Bristol Rovers 1-1 Shrewsbury Town, Sky Bet League One
30/08/22: Shrewsbury Town 1-2 Wolverhampton Wanderers u21, Papa John’s Trophy
03/08/22: Forest Green Rovers 0-2 Shrewsbury Town, Sky Bet League One
13/09/22: Shrewsbury Town 3-2 Exeter City, Sky Bet League One