As the League Two season reaches its climax, our attention shifts to the Peninsula Stadium on Saturday for a high-stakes clash between Salford City and Colchester United.
Colchester and Salford sit one and two points behind seventh-placed Grimsby Town, respectively, making this a crucial match for both teams in their quest to reach the playoffs.
Match preview
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Salford City bounced back from their unexpected loss to Accrington Stanley last week with a 3-1 victory over Morecambe, which confirmed the Shrimps as the first team relegated from League Two this season.
For Salford, that victory kept their playoff hopes alive, and a another three points here will take them into the top seven if Grimsby Town return from Stadim MK empty-handed.
Ossama Ashley opened the scoring at the Mazuma Mobile Stadium last week, and Cole Stockton, who made over 150 appearances for Morecambe, doubled the Ammies' lead moments before the interval, while Kelly N'Mai netted the third late in the day.
That result extended Karl Robinson's side's impressive recent away record to six games unbeaten, including four wins and two draws, though they now need to find the same level of performance on their home patch, where they are winless in their last six matches (W0 D3 L3).
The hosts are now aiming for a third straight match without defeat against this opponent, having drawn 1-1 at this venue last season before beating U's 2-1 in the reverse fixture at JobServe Community Stadium back in October.
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Meanwhile, after avoiding relegation by just three points last season, Colchester United have enjoyed a much better campaign this time around, currently on 66 points, 21 more than they ended on last term.
The U's were on a four-match unbeaten streak since the start of the month, but that run was brought to an end on Monday when they were beaten by league leaders Doncaster Rovers 3-0 on the road.
Harry Clifton and Jordan Gibson gave Rovers a two-goal cushion early in the first half, while Patrick Kelly netted the third of the afternoon late on after Owura Edwards was sent off for two bookable offences.
Danny Cowley's side will now look to bounce back from that defeat this weekend, and they have been in good form on the road of late, losing just two of their last 11 away games, one of which was Monday's loss to Rovers, while the other was against third-placed Bradford City last month.
Team News
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After being sent off against Doncaster and sitting out the trip to Morecambe, skipper Curtis Tilt is likely to return this week for Salford City and should slot back into defence alongside Luke Garbutt and Tom Edwards.
The hosts are expected to be missing at least four players this weekend due to injury, including Dan Chesters, Liam Shephard, Conor McAleny and Frankie Okoronkwo, while Stephan Negru is flagged as a doubt.
Cowley confirmed in the lead-up to this match that veteran forward Lyle Taylor is now ruled out for the remainder of the season after suffering a calf injury in their 2-0 win at Newport County earlier this month.
Alongside Taylor, the U's will also be missing Jamie McDonnell, Jack Payne and Harry Anderson, all of whom are sidelined with injury, and winger Owura Edwards, who is serving his suspension.
Salford City possible starting lineup:
Young; Edwards, Tilt, Garbutt; Mnoga, Ashley, Fornah, Adelakun; Woodburn; Stockton, N'Mai
Colchester United possible starting lineup:
Macey; Egbo, Kelleher, Flanagan, Iandolo; McDonnell, Bishop; Lisbie, Read, Gordon; Tovide
We say: Salford City 1-1 Colchester United
With both sides desperate to keep their playoff hopes alive, this clash promises to be a tightly contested, cagey affair, and we feel these two will have to settle for a share of the spoils at the final whistle.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
Devesh Jaganath
