Manager Pleased With Performance On The Day
Shrewsbury boss Micky Mellon says he is pleased with what his side have got out of their pre-season friendly with Wolves this afternoon.
Town completed a hat-trick of performances against Championship sides, all in the space of seven days, with a hard-earned 1-1 draw against Kenny Jackett’s side.
With Town claiming a defeat and two draws out of those games, Micky is delighted with what his side have got from their recent fixture.
“It’s a really good performance against a really good Championship team,” said Micky.
“We’re really pleased with what we got out of the game and I’m sure Kenny is as well. If you had offered us what we’ve ended up with after 90-minutes – fitness wise and the challenges we had all over the pitch – then we’d have to say that we’re pleased with the entire game.
“I’m not bothered about chances. I look at the performance, I look at our fitness levels and I look at how much we want to win games of football and all those kind of things.”
Similar to Town’s midweek game against Birmingham City, they allowed their visitors an early lead as Nouha Dicko headed Wolves into a 10th-minute lead before Tyrone Barnett equalised just after the half hour mark.
Micky was delighted with how Town responded to a surprise change in Wolves’ tactics as well as the performance from goalscorer Barnett.
“We haven’t really tactically prepared for Wolves,” said Micky. “We’ve have certain things we wanted to see in the game and we got them. The players stuck to the plan that we gave them and also Wolves played differently to how we expected them to play so that was interesting to see how the lads adapted to that so all of those things we are pleased with.
“He’s (Tyrone Barnett) come back absolutely flying. He’s worked hard in pre-season before he came back with us.
“It’s always difficult to join a team that is winning a lot of games halfway through the season which Ty had to do but we always knew that we had a player there that would make a big impact for us when he got used to his surroundings and we’re really delighted that he looks like he’s getting going.”
And with competition for places at an all-time high at the Meadow, Micky reveals he is sure to be handed a few selection headaches as the season approached.
“We’re still aiming towards that first game of the season but certainly I’m going to have a few headaches because I’ve got a lot of talented players here this season which I am delighted about so we will give it right up to when we need to make a decision on it because we’re really happy with all of the group,” added Micky.
“It’s a great problem to have and we’ve still got James Wesolowski and Nathaniel Knight-Percival to come back into the group and we all know how good those two are.
“We’re looking very strong, not just physically but mentally. The mentality of the whole group is fantastic. They all want to play and the ones that are not playing are right behind the whole group and they realise that the performance of the football club is more important than any of us as individuals.”
Midfielder Ryan Woods, who was absent from the midweek defeat against Birmingham made it on for the last 30-minutes and came close to winning the game with a 25-yard thunderbolt that agonisingly came back off the bar, and Micky revealed the reason for his midweek absence.
“Ryan Woods only came back into training on Friday following a bout of illness. He’s been off since Tuesday so it was just a case of seeing how he felt. It was always the plan to give him half an hour but he’s the type of lad who just desperate to play.”
With the new signings starting to settle, Micky feels Town are in a good place at the moment whilst also revealing that there was no more news on the progress of re-signing Jermaine Grandison and Jean-Louis Akpa Akpro but confirmed they are the only two signings the club are working on.
"We’re in a good place but the exciting thing is we don’t think we are anywhere near where we will be come the start of the season,” added Micky.
“We think we are going to get better and better, whether that be fitness or organisation or little things that we’ll do tactically so it’s a good time and I’m really pleased with the recruitment we have done in adding to what we already had here.
“We’re delighted with the group that we have. We believe we have cover and talent in every position so if we can the other two (Jermaine Grandison and Jean-Louis Akpa Akpro) tied up and then let the real bullets start flying and let’s get it going."