Gaffer's thoughts after the Scunthorpe game
Micky Mellon was disappointed after Shrewsbury Town fell to their fourth home defeat in the previous six games at the Greenhous Meadow. David Mirfin’s header late in stoppage time in the first half was enough to seal the win for Scunthorpe United and Mellon admits he feels for the fans:“I feel the frustration and I feel the pain. I feel for the crowd. I have been here a while now and I know a lot of them and what they are like. It is a real painful one and we have lost again from a ball tossed into the box and a flick on and it felt like a sucker punch. I thought we were probably the best team in the first half. Second half they tried to block us in and I would have to accept we weren’t good enough with the football in the second half. There wasn’t a lot of room but you have to try and unlock tight units like that and we just weren’t good enough to be able to do that in the second half.”
Shrewsbury matched the Iron for large portions of the opening 45 minutes and the Paisley born boss felt the goal was against the run of play:
“The first goal is very important in every game. That changes the course and they have come out in the second half and made it difficult for us to play the way we wanted to and how we did in the first half. We have to be better between the lines and we have to be better when we make the changes. I thought we deserved to go into half-time level.”
Despite Shrewsbury’s poor run of form Mellon refused to criticise his players:
“I don’t think the players underperformed in the first half. I thought they were very good in the first half and some of the passing was fantastic. With a bit more care I thought we could have gone in at the break in the lead. That is the truth. Second half they blocked us in and I accept we have to try and be a threat. I don’t think the substitutions had enough impact on what we wanted to do. I will be the first to admit that now with hindsight but our intentions I believe were the right ones. It didn’t work and sometimes that happens. The lads are gutted and are on the floor and we have to make sure we don’t demotivate them. We have to keep them going and optimistic and knowing it is fine margins. We know where we have to improve.”
The 44-year-old praised the fans for their support and Mellon feels with a bit more quality going forward the side can turn their fortunes around:
“There were a few people at full-time that were disappointed with the defeat and I accept that people are disappointed. I felt the fans were great all in all over the whole game. They tried to rally us and never got on top of us. There were a group who were disappointed that we lost another home game and I feel the frustration and I accept the responsibility. We know the reasons why we lost but it is all very frustrating and painful.”
“I know that the home defeats are stacking up. The margins are very small for the group. We all believe that there is a lot of ability in the group. I think everybody who watches us can see that. It is all about the fine margins. Our keeper hardly had a save to make except for at the end when they were catching us on the counter. This is the way it goes in this division. You have to take your chances when they come and we have to show a bit more quality in the final third. We didn’t do that today and we have lost another game. I know the amount of home games that we have lost and I accept responsibility for that. If we showed a bit more quality going forward we could be having a completely different conversation now.”