Gaffer disappointed after Town throw away lead at Exeter
Micky Mellon was frustrated as Shrewsbury came away from Exeter empty handed despite having a two goal lead at half time. The loss sees Town's tremendous run of six consecutive wins in Sky Bet League 2 come to an end at Saint James’ Park.The Shrewsbury boss was particularly disgruntled by his team conceding so early after the break:
“In the second half it was disappointing to lose a goal so early. Especially as it came from someone standing in the middle of our 18-yard-box when we have three centre backs, it’s a loss of focus and not good enough.”
“The message I gave for the second half was to keep things tight for the first 15 minutes. We knew Exeter would have a right good go. We should have kept things tighter in the box when we have three very good centre backs but we were a bit loose today and we got punished for it.”
Mellon feels it was individual errors that lost the game rather than the team as a whole:
“We had chances to be three and four up. Half time came at the right time for Exeter and they came out in the second half and showed terrific energy. When you are 2-0 up away from home you are gutted when you let things slip through your hands. But it is difficult to blame the group when it was little individual areas that cost us.”
“We will learn from moments like today. We will come in on Monday ready to work again, speak about what we have to speak about and then quickly move on and look forward.”
Negatives aside, striker James Collins scored a brace which takes his tally to 10 for the season and Micky praised the former Aston Villa man for his contribution to the team:
“The goal tally he has is a great testament to him. He scored twice again today despite being on the losing side so he will be disappointed. His work rate is terrific and he is a constant threat given how he gets into dangerous areas always looking to score a goal. He will probably be upset he didn’t get his third goal today given some of the chances that he had.”