Gaffer after last minute win at Gresty Road
Shrewsbury boss Micky Mellon hailed the ‘inspiring’ away support as his side won a thrilling contest at Gresty Road.Shaun Whalley’s 90th minute winner sent the 1200 plus Salopians into raptures after Crewe’s Ryan Colclough had cancelled out Larnell Cole’s tenth minute opener.
And Micky was happy that Town were able to reward their loyal following.
“We’ve had our share of it going against us but I just think it was fantastic for the support that we had today, which, when we came out, was inspiring to be fair,” said Micky.
“So it was terrific to be able to reward them for spending money and taking the time to come and support us today.
“It was a fantastic moment for us.
“I enjoyed it (the game). It was a really good game of football considering where both teams are and obviously us coming off the back of a second game in three days and them not.
“We tried to be played in the right way and had plenty of excitement for the fans and that’s what we try and do.”
Whalley’s last minute winner was a testament to the effort the former Luton Town man had put into the game, having failed to nail down a first-team place.
“If ever I have the opportunity to play wide players then I want to play them – I just haven’t had it,” added Micky.
“I think Shaun Whalley absolutely deserved his opportunity; he’s been terrific in training and looks a really good impact when he’s come on.
“Obviously Cole’s not been available for a long time and (Sullay) Kaikai wasn’t available last week. We haven’t really had the opportunity to play it since I think it was at Sheffield United where we did very well with it.
“It was something that was in my mind that we wanted to do. We planned that we were going to go that way if we had the personnel and I thought at times we played some fantastic football.
“If you see him in training he does that all the time. He really is a quality little footballer and he’s been unlucky with the situation with Coley and Kaikai thriving that he’s played a wee bit second fiddle to be honest.
“But I’ve always tried to look for an opportunity to get him a blast at it and I think you can safely say he took an opportunity today and we’re delighted with him.
“He’s two footed so he can do that. He can play left wing or right wing. He’s an old fashioned winger and he gets people on the edge of their seat. You’ve got to have a certain set up in the middle to play with two wingers like that but I thought (Ian) Black and (Abu) Ogogo were immense today.
Town’s bright start to the game was rewarded with the returning Larnell Cole grabbing a much deserved opener after his recent spell out through injury.
And Micky was delighted with the on-loan midfielder.
“He’s got tonnes of quality and I said to him ‘when you get to that edge of the box you’ve got to take a pop’ because he’s got some great ability and a goalscoring record at Manchester United that would make your eyes water. So you think ‘why have you stopped doing that Larnell? You’ve got to go and get goals for us because you’re very capable of that’ and we’re delighted to see it go in.
“I thought so (equaliser out of the blue).
“I thought we were very much in control and had some great passing movements and it really came from nowhere. We probably made a decision to commit the back four and never won the header cleanly. It’s broke to one of their lads and they’ve got a bit of an overlap on Dom and to be fair to the boy he’s finished it well but it was disappointing to see it go in.
“But we had an unbelievable opportunity with Larny (Cole). Again, with his technical ability and after a great move you think he’s just going to side foot it in but it was a game that was full of chances.”
And Micky was also full of praise for his back line which had to withstand some heavy pressure from the home side in that second period.
“Did you see the passes he was making into the front-men?” asked Micky when talking about Zak Whitbread and Anthony Gerrard.
“These are things that you’ve got to celebrate and be glad that they’re playing for you. If they’re doing that in the Premier League then you’re applauding them. Some of that passing and some of that defending and the heading out of the box…that’s the reason why we worked so hard to try to bring them here and get them fit because we know that we were going to need that type of quality if we were going to be a team in this division that was going to pick up points.
“He’s (Mark Halstead) a good goalkeeper and we are blessed to have good goalkeepers here. I don’t want to forget about Jayson because he’s been brilliant for us for a long time but we’ve always known that the two of them were number one goalkeepers and if one of them gets in the other supports them fantastically well and they work very, very hard in training.
“We’re just delighted to have them here because you’re blessed if you have two quality goalkeepers like that, and we’ve also got young Callum who’s terrific as well so we’re delighted.
“It’s a good weekend. If somebody would’ve said you’ll get four points out the weekend we would’ve snatched their hand off.
“I said at the end of the game against Fleetwood that it could be a good point that because you go into this game and pick up three then you say you’re delighted.
“We’re delighted with the weekends work. We’ve still got much, much work to do and we’re not going to get carried away and believe that we are anywhere near where I want us to be but at times today you’ve seen the quality we have and if I can build on this team and keep this group together and get busy in January then I think we will be able to build a team everybody is craving for.”