The Us will be hoping for more home comforts when we entertain Shrewsbury on Saturday. The past two away days have not only ended in defeat but have seen the Us ship 7 goals, which is depressing given how promising the Jibs/Sherring partnership had been looking.
The past two games have pointed to the Us inability to adapt their game to larger pitches. Fortress Abbey with its lovely narrow turf will hopefully benefit the boys on Saturday. With the big names still to play in these final 12 games, Saturday will surely be looked at as a great opportunity to get those final points to keep us well clear of a relegation spot. It’s 4 home wins in the league in a row for United, could someone tweet us when we last won 5 in a row?
As bad as Tuesday night was, it didn’t pass without its positives. Jones played a full 90, Shilow looked more his normal self and HMS Ironside was back and he seemed in the mood to terrorise defenders. Shrewsbury have one of the meanest defences in the league so all possible striking options are needed.
Takeaways from Bonner’s presser
- Tuesday good for Ironside, Tracey and Jones despite result.
- Having to get players fit through games is a challenge. Not sure if Jones plays again this weekend.
- Big Joe is a freak and has no pain threshold. Ironside been key to play for weeks now, has good chance for the weekend.
- O’Neil was due to start Tuesday but was ill.
Expected line-up
Could HMS Ironside be fit for a start? Can Jones and Tracey manage two games in a week on their return from fitness?
If Big Joe starts then Bonner has a headache over who to play on the right.
We’ve gone with Smith to start but Joey coming off the bench.
Mitov, Williams, Dunk, Sherring, Jones, Digby, May, Wessi, Brophy, Lankester, Smith
Opposition preview
A pretty underwhelming season for the Shews so far this season. Their greatest strength has been their well marshalled and tight defence. Their goals conceded tally is only bettered by two teams in the division!
Defensively very strong, physically strong in defense and hard to beat with a lot of draws this season.
Who is their player to watch?
Often a tormenta for Exeter, Ryan Bowman continued his love for scoring against us with a hatty in our first meeting this season.
Who’s in the dugout?
The vastly experienced Steve Cotterill.
Much of Cotterill’s time at Shrewsbury has been disrupted by COVID. Coterill himself spent a month in hospital being treated for COVID and then had to return to hospital later after suffering from COVID-pneumonia.
What’s their recent form like?
Picked up recently with a win away to Burton followed by an excellent draw at home midweek to leaders, Rotherham.
D-L-L-W-D
Any ex-United players?
Aaron Pierre.
Made a massive one appearance for the Us in 2013.
Came off the bench in an FA Trophy game to score a belter from the edge of the box in the third minute of injury time.
The Us went on to win the FA Trophy, Pierre went on to never be seen in a Us shirt again.
Last time out
Do watch if you love Jacky Iredale screamers.
Don’t watch if you hate miscarriages of justice.
A matchday album to listen to (sponsored by Romsey Amber)
Sea Power – Everything Was Forever
Keen listeners to Sea Power will know we at UTAS are fans 😉
Back minus the ‘British’ but back with a familiar warmth and expansive sound, album number 7 is filled with that atmospheric Indie post-Rock sound SP are known for.
The UTAS team’s terrible Moosenet predictions
A confident bunch this week…
Jordan: 2-1 United, Ironside
Caspell: 2-0 United,
Walker: 2-0 United, Ironside
Jules: 1-0, Sherring
Swindle: 4-1, Tolaj hattrick
Owen: 2-1, Ironside
From the archive
Kitson. Riza. Youngs. Kitson. Youngs.
This was the order of play as United dispatched Shrewsbury 5 zip at the Abbey in February 2003. That team really did have a devastating forward line…
Couldn’t find any footage on YouTube so enjoy a screengrab of the players reminiscing about the game on Twitter!
Under The Abbey Stand 
Leave a Reply