This League Two duo are both battling against the drop and so this match is extremely vital to both of these team’s survival hopes.
Port Vale were in and around the play-offs at the beginning of the season but have since fallen off the wagon and are now inside the bottom four and five points off safety following a run of just one win in their last 12 league games.
The back-line has been the Valiants’ main problem in recent times and they have only kept one clean sheet in all competitions in 2017. Going forward, they may have one of the poorest goal-scoring records in the division overall with just 39 in 35, but in the last few weeks they have actually had their shooting boots on and have registered in each of their last five outings. Unfortunately, their shoddy defence has been letting them down.
Michael Brown’s side managed to secure their first home win in five attempts last Saturday as they beat relegation rivals Swindon Town 3-2. It has only been since the turn of the new year that form has dipped at Vale Park and, before 2017, Vale had a good record at home with just two defeats in nine games.
Shrewsbury looked deep in relegation trouble during the first half of the season but they have managed to recover well and now sit five points above the drop-zone after losing just one of their last five League One matches.
Paul Hurst’s team have been pretty good going forward since the turn of the year, despite still having a poor overall goal-scoring record, and have registered on the score-sheet in all but one of their league matches since 2nd January 2017. Defensively, they are having a few problems and have kept just one clean sheet in their last six League One games and conceded four in their last three.
The Shrews have been poor on their travels this campaign with just 15 points taken from 19 matches away from home. Furthermore, they have not won in their last three away from New Meadow.
This game is likely to be tense given the circumstances. A win for Vale gives them a much bigger chance of staying up whilst a win for Shrewsbury pulls them even further away from trouble. In fact, I think the tension will be so much that we will probably end up in a rather cagey draw! It is worth noting that the last two meetings between these two have ended in draws whilst two of the last five of Port Vale’s and three of the last six of Shrewsbury’s matches have ended in 1-1 stalemates.
With the above in mind, backing both the draw and 1-1 correct score, is the way to go at respective odds of 12/5 & 11/2.
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