Gaffer's thoughts after the Checkatrade Trophy game at Scunthorpe
Micky Mellon was deflated after Shrewsbury Town failed to qualify for the next stage of the Checkatrade trophy with a 2-0 defeat to Scunthorpe United. The manager bemoaned Town’s lack of fortune.He said: “It is extremely frustrating again. All I can do is talk about the game and try and be as honest as possible.”
“It is very frustrating to see us go behind with eight minutes on the clock. It was incredible really. I think we had a lot of chances and we hit the post but we couldn’t quite get the equalizer. You just think when is the fortune going to change and go for us. They have had a couple of good chances too to be fair but we have ended up losing another game two nil. We have to move on and try and do the next thing well and try and build on it and fight for it.”
Mellon was upset to be out of the competition with a game remaining in the group stage and he admitted he was fully aware of the supporter’s discontent.
He said: “It is always disappointing because you want to do well in every competition that you take part in so it is disappointing.
“I think we approached it in the right way. I think we put the strongest team out that we believed would get us a result but it wasn’t to be. At times we did some good things but we weren’t consistent and we got punished. We understand that everybody is disappointed and we all know that things must improve. We have to do an awful lot better and we acknowledge that.”
The former Fleetwood manager felt that defensive mistakes had not helped Town on the night.
He said: “We were pressing before the second goal and looking likely to get the goal to get back in it.
“But then we shot ourselves in the foot in the eighteen yard box again with defending that was poor. We work hard every day to try and defend better than that so it was very disappointing to see things happening that we don’t allow in training.”
Mellon believes one of the key areas that needs to be addressed immediately is Shrewsbury’s habit of conceding first in matches.
He said: “All my thoughts are with this evening. We came here in the right frame of mind and we approached it properly.
“When we keep losing the first goal it is always difficult. I keep stressing the importance of making sure we get the first goal. It makes it difficult to work with and it is not acceptable and we are disappointed about it. We have to keep trying to combat it. You have to continue to try and find a way or a reason why it is happening. The responsibility will quite firmly come on to me but that is part of the job and we have to accept it.”