Manager not getting carried away for Saturday
Manager Micky Mellon insists Shrewsbury Town will not get carried away ahead Saturday’s game against Portsmouth - after their 5-0 thumping of Bury on Tuesday.Town take on Pompey in Sky Bet League 2 at the Greenhous Meadow this weekend (3pm kick-off) looking to continue their climb up the table with another victory at home.
A hat-trick from Jean-Louis Akpa Akpro helped the Shrews to a resounding win over high-flying Bury on Tuesday night, but Micky wants to make sure his side continue to perform to their absolute best.
“We’ll look to follow-up the Bury performance by keeping our standards high and not get too carried away (against Portsmouth)," said Micky.
“If we come off the plan then we know we’ll be in for a very difficult afternoon, so it’ll be very tough but we expect to do what we’ve been doing and we should be fine.”
Town have won all of their last three matches - against Cheltenham Town, York City and Bury - ahead of the visit of Andy Awford's side.
And Micky's only focus is on an important first half against the South Coast club on Saturday.
“I’ve always said just take one half at a time and one game at a time because we’re still a very new group and we’ll be learning a bit more about ourselves for some time in the future," he said.
“We’re not going to get carried away, we know what we’re going to do and we’ll keep our standards high on the training pitch.
“We’re looking at nothing other than the first half against Portsmouth.”
Team morale will be high after Tuesday’s demolition of Bury and even Micky managed to break into a smile after the result.
He said: “It was great. You’ve got to enjoy evenings like that because they don’t come along every week, and when they do come along you’ve got to make sure that you enjoy them and it was good that a lot of people did, but it’s back to business now.
“There’s a real healthy competitive atmosphere running through the whole football club.”
Micky is also hoping that Tuesday’s three-goal hero Akpa Akpro can continue his run of good form.
“It all came together for him on Tuesday night and you’ve seen what a huge threat he can be when he’s in that kind of form and that kind of mood," said Micky.
“We’re pushing him and prodding him and trying to get that kind of performance from him on Saturday.”
Micky believes that Saturday’s game can be a real occasion for the club, with Pompey, a former Premier League side, expected to bring a mass travelling support with them.
“(Portsmouth) are in an absolute false position at the minute, they’ve got some terrific players and they’ve put together a really good squad," said Micky.
“They’ll bring a massive following up here so we’re going to have to be at our best to get something from the game because they’re a really good side and they got a good result midweek.
“I think fan-wise there should be a decent gate there. Portsmouth are a fantastically supported football club and they’re very vocal so it’ll give our fans something to go up against and compete with as well.
“It should make for a fantastic atmosphere.”
Town can be buoyed by the potential return of Andy Mangan on Saturday, too.
Micky said: “We had a scan on Wednesday and that was positive so we’re expecting him to train tomorrow. He should come into contention for the weekend.”