Shrewsbury v Portsmouth: Improving Town face their biggest test of the season

It is no stretch to say that John Mousinho is doing a cracking job at Pompey since arriving at the start of this year.

The south coast side are riding high at the top of the League One table boasting an impressive 45 points from the 20 games they have played – they have lost just once.

Town, who have been good at overcoming challenges of late, will certainly look at it that way and Matt Taylor will have watched Pompey’s game win over Bolton on Monday night with intrigue as they try to plot a way to victory.

One would assume it will be a similar kind of performance to wins against Notts County and Wycombe Wanderers recently, where they have defended so resiliently to hold on to leads.

Salop’s home form has been good all season – they have taken 19 points from their 10 games in Shropshire and they will be looking to build on that this weekend.

It has been an up-and down-start to the season for Shrews. They had a solid start, then endured a rocky period between September and October, but now seem to have stabilised and pushed on.

Sitting in 11th place, albeit having played a couple of games more than most sides around them, with two games to go until the halfway point of the season is a very good return – one that few would have predicted come the start of the season.

It will be hard to add to that tally of 27 points though as they have two of the toughest games they will face coming before the turn – Pompey followed by Peterborough, who are fourth at present themselves.

Town are still severely hampered by injury problems.

Taylor Perry and Morgan Feeney may have played a part last week, but Salop still have a big number of senior first-team players missing.

Players returning from injury have without doubt given Town a boost.

Jordan Shipley has been good since his return from a knee problem and Perry scored the winner at Adams park in his first involvement since went off at half-time with tight hamstrings against Port Vale.

But George Nurse, Tom Flanagan, Brandon Fleming, Elliot Thorpe, Ryan Finnigan, Kieran Phillips and Tom Bayliss all remain on the injury list, while Jason Sraha has also been missing since Blackpool but is nearing a return. They will be sure to pick up a couple of other impact injuries over the Christmas, which is renowned for the busy schedule with lots of football being played in a short space of time.

Roland Idowu will be able to come and get involved though by the time 2024 starts, which provides a boost.

And Town have been unbeaten in their last four games, winning three of them – if they can keep that unbeaten record going to Christmas, that would be a success.