Micky proud of his teams performance at Northampton
Micky Mellon spoke of his intense pride despite Town conceding a late equaliser at Northampton today. Liam Lawrence was shown a red card for what Mellon described as a two-footed tackle but with Shrewsbury reduced in numbers, they managed to take the lead with 26 minutes left and could have added more before sub Emile Sinclair headed a late, late equaliser for the home side.“I’m absolutely proud because we had so many things to contend with today,” said the Town chief. “Anybody who was here will know what I mean by that. To have been down to 10 men for so long and given the performance we did in front of fantastic backing from our fans, yeah, it was disappointing to concede at the very very end but I’ve got nothing but praise for my lads.”
Micky refused to be drawn on the performance of referee Darren Deadman although he did feel that the one decision the match official got correct was the dismissal of his skipper, Lawrence. “I have to admit that he got that one right,” said Mellon. “It didn’t look good from where I was I have to admit so I’ve got no complaints. Everybody who was here has seen it (understood to be Deadman’s performance), so all I can say is Wow! Wow, just wow! I don’t know what else I can say as I don’t think I’ve seen anything as bad as that for a long time.
“My day’s not going to get spoiled by anything else. We gave all that we had and played some fantastic football that second half. We played with two front men against a side that had a man more than us for much of the match and had three or four unbelievable efforts on goal. We can find ourselves very unlucky not to have come away with a victory that’s for sure. But it’s a very tough place to come especially when you’re down to ten men so I’ve got to be incredibly proud of my boys and I’ve said that in there. It’s a great thing when a manager can walk into a dressing room and say how proud he is and I’ve had that moment today.”
Collins hit a 64th minute opener for Salop and Mellon admitted that no-one is a bigger fan of the Irishman than himself: “He’s a terrific player let’s be clear about that. I’ve got four great strikers and I’m blessed so I’m delighted for him as he’s shown his class throughout and battled his heart out. So did Jean-Louis, Mangs (Mangan – sacrificed in the Lawrence incident) was unlucky, and Scott Vernon ran himself into the ground so I’m pleased.”
Mellon said it was tough to take that the side had conceded bang on 90 minutes: “It’s never good for the soul when you lose a goal so late in the game,” he said. But I’m going to look at the whole game, the whole picture and say how proud I am of the boys. At this moment in time, having conceded a goal right at the end, we’re obviously a bit disappointed but over the whole piece I couldn’t be any prouder. I thought the ball in was a low delivery and it’s got a nick on it. There were a lot of bodies in there. The goalkeeper’s been brave as he came to help out but they got that nick and you’ll see that on MOTD or the Football League show or any game you see on the television this week.”
Mellon once again paid tribute to the backing of the supporters pointing out that they were a special group of fans and that Shrewsbury Town is a special football club.
He ended the piece by looking forward to the cup-tie at Leicester in midweek: “Yeah, that’s another easy one isn’t it?” he joked. “We will lose Ashley (Vincent) with a knock, and there’s the Liam situation now, but it’s a game we’re looking forward to. It’s great that the club have a trip to a Premier League side to look forward to so we’ll see where we are on the night. Hopefully we’ll give a good account of ourselves.”