Shrewsbury Town vs Portsmouth. Sky Bet League One.
Montgomery Waters MeadowAttendance7,880.
Thursday 2 April 2020 12:08, UK
Shrewsbury will be without midfielder Ollie Norburn for Saturday's Sky Bet League One home clash with Portsmouth but new goalkeeper Joe Murphy could make his debut.
Norburn is out due to a knee injury sustained in training, joining Ryan Sears and Lenell John-Lewis (both also knee) on the sidelines.
Summer signing Murphy and Josh Laurent have returned to training after foot and thigh problems respectively. Dave Edwards (ankle) and Scott Golbourne, who has also been recovering from injury during pre-season, are set to be available. Boss Sam Ricketts has said Anthony Grant will not be part of the first-team set-up this season "due to reasons which will remain in-house".
John Marquis is in line to make his 'second debut' for Portsmouth in the contest at Montgomery Waters Meadow. The striker joined from Doncaster on Wednesday, returning to a club he had previously spent time on loan with in 2013-14.
Pompey boss Kenny Jackett has also brought in the likes of Marcus Harness, Ross McCrorie and Sean Raggett this summer. Jackett is looking to build on a 2018-19 which saw his side qualify for the play-offs with a fourth-placed finish - exiting in the semi-finals - and win the Checkatrade Trophy.
Only one of the last 13 league clashes between Shrewsbury and Portsmouth have ended level, with both sides responsible for six wins each in this period.
Portsmouth's 2-0 victory in this exact fixture last season halted a run of three straight league defeats at Montgomery Waters Meadow for the away side.
The last time Shrewsbury kicked off their league campaign at home to Portsmouth, they lost 1-2 in August 1988, a season in which the Shrews went on to be relegated.
Since Portsmouth travelled to and beat Shrewsbury on the opening day back in August 1988, they have failed to win any of their last 13 games when starting the season away from home (P13 W0 D7 L6).
Portsmouth manager Kenny Jackett is currently on the longest winning run of opening day matches of all managers within the top four tiers of English football (four straight wins).
