Manager Paul Simpson today rose from his sickbed to hail the victory which took Shrewsbury Town back into League Two’s promotion places.

Simpson was forced to miss Saturday’s impressive 2-0 triumph over much-fancied Bradford at the Prostar Stadium after suffering with a virus for the second half of last week.

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Assistant manager John McMahon and first-team coach Stuart Delaney took the reins and helped Shrewsbury to a fourth successive home League victory, sealing a return to the top three in the process.

While Simpson admitted his frustration at missing the game, he was delighted by the result in his absence.

“I had a virus and it’s the first time I have been ill since I played at Derby – it knocked me for six,” he said.

“It came on Wednesday and I came to a reserve match (against Macclesfield) and felt like a zombie so John and Stuart took training Thursday and Friday and put into plan what we had spoken about in terms of approaching the game.

“If I had come in, I would have been a waste of space and you don’t know if viruses like that are going to be contagious.

“I missed a game at Carlisle once because of a knee operation but that was only a pre-season friendly.

“To be honest, I found it horrible. I listened to the game on the radio and my lad was at the game and brought the DVD home for me to watch it on Saturday night.

“It wasn’t a nice situation for me to be in but it was a really good result for us against a strong Bradford side.

“The performance was very strong – we scored two good goals and everybody worked extremely hard which has to be the basis of all our performances.”

Despite claiming the scalp of what is expected to be one of their chief rivals for promotion, Simpson was keeping his feet firmly on the ground.

“It’s no bigger than any other three points,” he insisted. “It gives us a very slight cushion over them because they are up at the top but there are still a hell of a lot of games to go and a lot of football to be played.”

By James Garrison