Stewart Drummond talks to Martin Wild after the 2-0 win over Macclesfield Town

Town skipper Stewart Drummond emerged from the dressing room in ebullient mood after the win over Macclesfield which saw Salop move into ninth place in League Two.

Drummond opened the scoring after 33 minutes and impressed with his energy sapping performance in central midfield, providing additional attacking threat with his runs into the opposition penalty area.

With his 32nd birthday coming later this month, the three points were a welcome early present. He knew that last week's performance at Millmoor was unacceptable and that his side had to bounce back and quickly.

"We needed to be a lot better than we were at Rotherham. I think we've suffered from inconsistency all season really. I thought we did half decent against Barnet. We got the basics right, working hard and creating a few chances, then the Rotherham game came up and threw a spanner in the works. It was important to bounce back today and I think we did that and I could have scored a couple of more goals myself."

I put it to the likeable Lancastrian that Ben Davies' inclusion in the team had made him the chief beneficiary and had certainly helped him get forward more often than in recent performances.

"Yeah, most definitely. I've played with Benji a good few years now and it helps me when you know what a certain player's going to do. You know where he's going to make his runs and if he gets into wide areas you know he's going to get his crosses in. I thought the midfield had a better balance to it today; Hunty's happy to sit in there and allow me and Benji to bomb forward a little bit more. It paid dividends especially in the first half when we created one or two decent chances."

The press lads were pretty much unanimous that it was Shrews' best performance of the season. Did the skipper think that was a fair assessment?

"Yeah I think even the Lincoln game was a bit of a freak result and probably set us up for a bit of a fall in the end. They were expected to do well this season and with us being away it raised people's expectations. I think you're probably right though. We've played better today than we have done for a couple of months. We passed the ball almost like it was a pre-season game. All the lads wanted to get on the ball and take some responsibility and try and pass it rather than hitting everything into the channels."

It was a third successive shut-out at the New Stadium following clean sheets against Mansfield and Barnet, a useful platform for the team to build upon.

"Last season we built on our home form and it was our defensive performances which allowed us to slip into the play-off places and we need to get back to that really," he said. "It's all very well creating chances and nicking goals from set-pieces but our strengths have always been at the back and not conceding goals.

"We were less nervy today than we have been in recent matches. The fans played their part today. They were right behind the lads right from the start and it gives the younger players a real lift to have an atmosphere like that. We were a bit scrappy opening five, maybe ten minutes of the second half but other than that we were pretty much on top."

Manager Gary Peters adopted a 3-5-2 formation only seen in away games at Wycombe and Bury where creditable 1-1 draws were accrued. I wondered whether the team felt comfortable with it and how influential the gaffers decision had been on securing the victory?

"It's strange, when you get beat it's all about formations but when you win it's just eleven v. eleven isn't it? No, the gaffer came in on Monday morning, and started to look at things in recent performances like why we'd stopped scoring goals and why we were letting them in. So he's come up with this formation today and it's worked for us.

"The 4-4-2 system was starting to look a bit stale really especially when we were up against teams playing the same systems, it was a bit of a deadlock. Today we had a lot more space for the lads to make better angles and get better passes in. It's all well and good it working today, it's whether we can carry it on into the next few games what counts."

Drummond had missed a gilt-edged opportunity ahead of his goal (which he was able to laugh off as a 'great save by the keeper') but had obviously relished the opportunity to break into the box with David Hunt playing the holding role in the centre of the park.

"My role at Shrewsbury, even last term, has always been to hold back really. I had more licence to get forward today with the three of us in there (Drumms, Davies & Hunt) and it's great to get the chance to get on the end of things. I should have scored maybe another two today."

The last three away games have ended in 2-0 defeats for Town and the captain acknowledged that it was time to take the positives from recent home performances out onto the road starting next week at Notts County.

"Yeah, three 2-0 defeats; I mean, that didn't happen too many times last season. How many times did we lose by more than one goal? Not many. When you go away and you set yourselves up not to concede, especially last week at Rotherham where we were opened up on countless occasions, might not be the best way to go. Maybe if we went at teams a bit more like we did today it might work for us a bit better."

The Rotherham game came close on the heels of a surprising 3-0 home defeat for the Millers against non-league opposition in Forest Green Rovers, and next weeks opponents suffered a 1-0 home loss to Havant & Waterlooville in the FA Cup 2nd round's biggest shock. County will be looking to bounce back and Drummond is hoping that history doesn't repeat itself next weekend.

"Notts County aren't having the best of times just now. They changed their manager recently and that sparked a bit of a reaction but they've slipped again with their last few results. It's an old cliché in football; there's no easy games in this division but if we're looking to progress as a football club you look at the next four or five games and we've got to be taking as many points as we can."

With just one other game taking place in League Two this weekend, the three points moved Town to within four points of Chester City who occupy the last play-off position in seventh place. A similar performance at Meadow Lane in seven days time should be enough to help Peters men climb even higher up the table.