Sheffield Wednesday feel the pain of Shrewsbury Town in area that has prevented outside play-off push

Budget, size of club, immediacy of aspirations; they’re cut from different cloth. But the cold reality – for Wednesday supporters at least – and all that matters is that for now at least they are in the same division.

One other thing they have in common is the impact injuries have had on those immediate expectations.

Shrewsbury darted up the table mid-season to put themselves well in contention for one of the lower play-off places before injuries in a tight-knit squad took them out at the knees.

Wednesday, well if you’re reading this you’ll probably know what has happened to Wednesday.

The match pits Darren Moore against his old friend Steve Cotterill once more at New Meadow, where the Shrews took a deserved 1-0 vistory last season.

“Steve has had his fair share of injuries as well," Moore said. “He’s someone that I admire and have a lot of time for.

“He’s straight-talking and he must be a joy for the players to work with. He’s very solid in his ways, he knows the game and has brought a wonderful solidity to Shrewsbury as a football club. At one stage of the season they were on a very good, decent run.

“He might feel that one or two of the injuries has forced them off that but they’ll still be professional, a real tough team to play against. In the time I’ve been here they’ve never been opponents that give much away.”