Shrewsbury v Cheltenham - Match preview

Town were the victims of a second-half comeback against the U’s on Boxing Day, the hosts rarely threatened, but when Shilow Tracey lifted the home crowd – after Christian Saydee had given Salop the lead – it paved the way for former Shrews loanee Sam Smith to give them all three points.

It was an opportunity missed for Steve Cotterill’s men, they had been in great form leading up to the clash – winning their last three games – despite not playing for 16 days.

But the festive period gives Town a chance to put Monday’s disappointment behind them almost instantly, when they welcome Cheltenham Town.

They had their own Boxing Day heartbreak when league leaders Plymouth Argyle scored 12 minutes from time, so Shrews will have to be wary of the Robins’ desire to get back on track too.

Cotterill revealed Tom Flanagan is touch and go for the game against Cheltenham.

The defender has had a bug over Christmas, and he was withdrawn from the Salop starting XI 20 minutes before kick-off on Boxing Day.

The boss said the defender has been struggling to eat over the period, but they were hoping he could play.

Cotterill said: “He has to get some food down him because he hadn’t eaten for a couple of days, and he was weak going out on to the pitch on Monday.

“He didn’t have a gallop in him, and that’s unlike Tom.

“Whilst Tom is slender, he is strong, and he is tough.

“He didn’t look the best, but the reason why we wanted to see if he could start was that Rekeil hadn’t played 90 minutes for a while.

“Even if Tom could have given us half-an-hour, we were preparing for him to give us half-an-hour and then Rekeil would have only had to do 60 minutes in the wing-back role.

“It ended up being one of those days.

“We’ve had it a couple of times this year because of the injuries.”

The club are not going to appeal Ryan Bowman’s red card, at first glance the sending-off looked harsh.

But Cotterill revealed there is not enough footage for them to prove his innocence and the forward is now set to miss the next three games.

If both Flanagan and Bowman are missing then it is a big blow for Town to lose another two senior players ahead of the clash.

The boss is already plotting his way through the festive period with several regulars in the treatment room.

But he will be keen to get one over on his old club – especially after Shrews fell to a 2-0 defeat in the reverse fixture back in October.

It was one of the rare occasions Shrews have not turned up this season and is the only game other than Ipswich at home, where they have lost by more than a goal in the league.