Shrewsbury v Accrington - Match preview

The fans taking part in the piloted return to stadia were treated to a feast at the beginning of December 2020 as Shaun Whalley’s stunning free-kick four minutes from time looked to have earned a 2-1 win until a Stanley stoppage-time penalty.

Nearly 13 months later Shrewsbury, with a full cohort of supporters this time expected in the Meadow, and Cotterill attempt to continue their best run of form this season after putting their travel sickness to bed with a commanding 3-0 win at Fleetwood on Boxing Day.

The Meadow has been a happy home hunting ground, particularly of late, this season. Town have won four from five games unbeaten on their own patch. Stanley, who under long-serving boss John Coleman sit an impressive 10th, have faltered on the road this term. “He came in and we had an upsurge in performances,” said first-team coach David Longwell, whose role at Town’s academy pre-dated Cotterill’s appointment. “We played well that night, it was one of those we could’ve won.

“We get some good results after that, the run we had, it helped keep us in the league.

“Now though you look at the difference in a year, it’s a bit of half-and-half, some players have stayed and some have gone. It takes time to build something.

“The manager has experience of where he’s been and what he’s done, you need that time to implement what you want to do, it won’t happen overnight.

“We look to keep building and I think you could see on Sunday – not because we won 3-0 – but the performance (level) was so high.

“The first goal, Ryan Bowman being there, that’s something we’ve worked on. Nat (Ogbeta) in those areas and improving his quality into the box, he did really well and he’s got in the (League One) team of the week because he sets that goal up.

“A lot of the stuff you can see on the pitch is definitely coming from training.”

Town and Stanley are both inside League One’s top 10 in the form table including the last six games.

Accrington returned to action after more than two weeks away with a mightily impressive 1-0 home victory over in-form leaders Rotherham on Boxing Day, a fitting result to mark Coleman’s 20 years at the Stanley helm, across two spells.

“It’s crazy, it’s an incredible achievement to have been somewhere for 20 years and shows what a good job they have done,” Longwell added.

“I listened to one of his interviews and he said there are times where you take criticisms but you’ve just got to keep working.

“They are so hard to play against, Accrington, whether it’s home or away you just know you’re in for a really tough game. To beat Rotherham shows how good they can be on their day.”