Steve Cotterill to go strong as Shrewsbury look to cement EFL Trophy qualification at Wigan
Steve Cotterill has vowed to use a strong Shrewsbury Town side at Wigan in the EFL Trophy tonight.
The Papa John’s Pizza-sponsored competition’s group stage reaches its climax this evening, with Town closing their Northern Group C campaign at the League One high-flying Latics.
Cotterill’s men are well-placed to qualify for the knockout stages, the next stage – round two – of which takes place in three weeks (week commencing November 29).
And the Town chief has revealed he will name a more experienced line-up of Salop regulars at the DW Stadium as the visitors, who were second behind Crewe prior to Wolves under-21s trip to Gresty Road last night, aim to seal qualification.
A victory tonight guarantees qualification but were Wolves youngsters to claim a win, then any Shrewsbury dropped points could put their second round spot in jeopardy.
“Yeah, we’ll probably be stronger than we have been in the other games,” said Cotterill, who used a sprinkling of Town academy youngsters in ties against Crewe, a 1-0 defeat, and the 3-1 win over Wolves’ youth side.
“What I don’t want us to do is go two weeks without a game, so we don’t want to lose too much rhythm.
“I need to find out where we are, we had some bumps and bruises on Sunday. I need to see where the freshness will come from.
“I need to see where Shaun is, Matty and Marko as well. I can’t answer the question as to what the team will be, but we will be stronger than we have been in the other games, because we’ve used a lot of the kids.”
Town have a decision to make over whether to provide Josh Vela the chance to make his return from a medial ligament injury tonight.
Vela has missed more than six weeks with the problem but was an unused substitute at Stratford Town on Sunday. The likelihood is he may enjoy a late cameo from the bench.
There is also a calf injury to Shaun Whalley to assess. The 34-year-old missed the FA Cup success over the weekend.
It is unlikely that goalkeeper Marko Marosi and defender Matt Pennington will feature following positive Covid-19 results.
