Manager's thoughts ahead of FA Cup trip
Manager Micky Mellon believes that Shrewsbury Town's FA Cup Second Round Proper tie at Preston North End on Saturday will be an opportunity to see how far his side have come.Town make another trip up to Lancashire this weekend (3pm kick-off) hoping to better their last result at Deepdale when they lost 1-0 in the Johnstone's Paint Trophy back in September.
Since then both clubs have seen a rise in fortunes and Micky knows that his confident side are more than capable of springing an upset at the Lilywhites.
He said: “We are really looking forward to it and it will be a great test for us to see how far we have come as a club against another side who are riding high in the league above.
“We will go up there and benchmark ourselves against what is the third best team in League One.
“It gives us another opportunity to see how far we have come as a group. We’ve been up there before and we know the size of the task but that’s something that doesn’t scare us.
“We are going to go there and represent the club properly and try and progress in the tournament.
“We know Preston are a good side but so are we.”
At a time where some clubs focus more on their league campaign than progress in the FA Cup, Micky is fully aware of what another successful cup run would mean to the club and their fans.
“We want to be excited for being in the hat for that third round because that’s when the big boys start to come in.
“It’s important that we try and give the fans and the people in the club that exciting time when the draw is getting made. It’s what good seasons are all about.”
Following Town’s impressive victory over promotion rivals Burton Albion on Saturday, Micky says that his side are full of confidence.
“Confidence is massive in football and winning games and putting in good performances keep those confidence levels high.
“At this important time of the season you want to be going into it with a lot of confidence because the games come quick and fast now.
“The team are well and playing well and performing well. It’s about performance as well as results. It’s important you try and marry the both and the lads are doing that.”
On Andy Mangan’s fitness and the general health of the squad, the manager added: “Andy Mangan is 100 per cent fit.
“He’s trained the last few days. He’s been available for training everyday so, touch wood, every available player we have at the football club is training so the physio is pretty redundant at the moment.”