Both desperate for three points in their fights at opposite ends of the League One table, Shrewsbury Town and Huddersfield Town will do battle at the Croud Meadow on Tuesday.
The hosts sit four points adrift of safety following a defeat at the weekend, while their visitors moved back up to fifth spot with an important return to winning ways.
Match preview
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Shrewsbury Town head back into action on Tuesday aiming to narrow their gap to League One safety, having suffered a setback last time out after an improved run under the management of Gareth Ainsworth.
He took over in November with the Shropshire outfit sat on just eight points from 15 games, and they have since added 19 more to that tally in 16 attempts under the new boss, winning five of those and drawing four.
The Shrews gave their hopes of escaping the bottom four a major boost with back-to-back 2-1 victories over Mansfield Town and Rotherham United in early February and followed those triumphs up with a creditable 1-1 draw away at Reading thanks to Taylor Perry's second-half leveller.
Ainsworth's men were unable to extend their unbeaten streak further at home to Bolton Wanderers on Saturday, though, despite going 1-0 up through Vadaine Oliver, as Eoin Toal's goal and John McAtee's brace had the visitors 3-1 up before Luca Hoole halved the deficit in the 94th minute.
That defeat saw Shrewsbury Town drop back down to 22nd spot in League One, but still only trailing 21st-placed Crawley Town by one point and Peterborough United outside of the bottom four by four, they will aim to give their survival hopes another big boost on Tuesday.
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They face a tough test, though, as the visitors head to Shropshire in search of back-to-back victories to strengthen their top-six standing.
After moving into a strong position in the automatic promotion race with a 16-match unbeaten between early October and mid-January, Huddersfield Town saw any top-two hopes all but eliminated by three straight losses at the hands of Bolton Wanderers, Birmingham City and Northampton Town.
Those setbacks left the Terriers' top-six place in jeopardy, and they were then at least able to end the losing run in a goalless stalemate at home to Reading.
A Yorkshire derby away at fellow playoff-hopefuls Barnsley then followed at the weekend, and it was Michael Duff's side who managed to end their winless streak in that game, despite going 1-0 down to a Jon Russell goal, as Josh Koroma levelled the scores on the hour mark and Ben Wiles netted the decisive goal shortly afterwards.
Having climbed back up to fifth spot with that victory, but still trailing the top two by eight points and only leading the chasing pack by two, Huddersfield Town will aim to put another winning streak together and cement their place at the top end of the division.
Team News
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Gareth Ainsworth may opt to make some changes to his Shrewsbury Town starting XI from the weekend's defeat to Bolton, with Aristote Nsiala hoping to return to the defence from the start after featuring off the bench on his return from suspension last time out.
He could join Josh Feeney and Morgan Feeney in a back three, in front of goalkeeper Jamal Blackman, who has been between the sticks in the Shrews' last 12 league outings following his December arrival, conceding just 14 goals in that time.
Taylor Perry could again operate ahead of Alex Gilliead and Dominic Gape in midfield, offering support to strikers John Marquis, who leads the squad with nine goals this season, and Vadaine Oliver, who netted his first goal for the club at the weekend following a January loan switch from Bradford City.
Huddersfield Town are set to remain without attackers Danny Ward, Rhys Healey and Joe Taylor and defenders Mickel Miller and Nigel Lonwijk on Tuesday due to ongoing injuries.
Michael Duff should field a similar starting XI from Saturday's away win over Barnsley, although Josh Koroma could come in from the start, offering support to a front two from the wing.
Callum Marshall and January arrival Dion Charles will continue up front, while Ben Wiles, David Kasumu and Herbie Kane should keep their places in the midfield despite competition from Joe Hodge and Jonathan Hogg.
Shrewsbury Town possible starting lineup:
Blackman; M Feeney, Nsiala, J Feeney; Hoole, Gilliead, Gape, Benning; Perry; Marquis, Oliver
Huddersfield Town possible starting lineup:
Nicholls; Sorensen, Balker, Leeds, Spencer; Wiles, Kasumu, Kane, Koroma; Marshall, Charles
We say: Shrewsbury Town 1-2 Huddersfield Town
Shrewsbury are certainly much-improved under Ainsworth and will pose a tough test for the visitors, but with renewed confidence from a return to winning ways last time out, we back Huddersfield Town to make their quality count and take all three points on Tuesday.
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Sam Varley
