Micky Mellon hails 'terrific' Town display

Shaun Whalley's 63rd-minute goal direct from a corner proved the difference between the sides as Town made it four clean sheets in their last five league outings and took their away record to six unbeaten and one defeat in 11 trips.

"It's always good to get clean sheets but I felt in the first half that my whole back four were terrific," said boss Mellon.

"Everything that went into the box, they got first contact on and anything around the edge of the box, they got blocks on.

"We were delighted with their performance but they were a massive part of us going in at half-time at 0-0.

"It was a massive victory, a clean sheet and the questions that the lads were asked again they answered terrifically well.

"We came away with a really valuable three points.

"It was a vitally important goal and a massive three points and those were the positives to take home with us."

Mellon revealed he had words with the players at the break after they were second best in the first 45 minutes.

"We had a chat at half-time and they came out in the second half and we were first to pretty much everything," he said.

"I felt we never won enough headers and knockdowns or got anywhere near enough control.

"But in the second half we did everything we needed to do and got ourselves going again.

"It's been a tough spell and as people saw, we're getting niggles and fatigue injuries all over the place which tells you the amount of games we're playing and what stage of the season we're at."

Keeper Jayson Leutwiler tipped over Luke McCullough's piledriver in the first half and produced a superb flying save to tip away a free kick from substitute Cameron Stewart near the end.

Determined not to surrender their advantage once they got their noses in front, Shrewsbury were much improved after the break and they earned the win through an impressive rearguard in which captain Nathaniel Knight-Percival and midfielder Abu Ogogo were outstanding.

Mellon added: "I wasn't shocked (by the performance). If I wrote down on an envelope how the game was going go it went exactly how I thought it would.

"This is what you get at this stage of the season and I told the players 'just be good at that - be brilliant at the questions you get asked and make sure you answer them positively'.

"We fought hard after not winning enough of them in the first half."

The one downside was the early exit of centre back Zak Whitbread to a hamstring injury after just 27 minutes.

And the experienced centre back looks an immediate doubt for Tuesday's visit of Coventry.

"He'll be assessed over the next 24 hours," said Mellon.