"I want them to continue that" - Shrewsbury boss on keeping his side 'grounded'
Shrewsbury Town boss Michael Appleton is refusing to get carried away as he sets his sights on earning a third consecutive win.
Appleton - who admitted he was a 'grumpy old man' in the build-up to Saturday's victory over Crawley Town - is determined to keep his Salop squad grounded, despite an uplift in their form.
And therefore his focus is all now on Oldham Athletic, with Town travelling to Boundary Park on Saturday afternoon (3pm).
"I am very cautious about getting too excited," he said after Saturday's second consecutive success. "I'll really enjoy tonight and tomorrow, but then come Monday morning, it'll be all about Oldham.
"But, the lads are creating that environment to create the momentum that we have got at the moment, and I want them to continue that. It is may job to not let them get too carried away and make sure that they stay sharp."
Coupled with Appleton's desire to keep Shrewsbury's feet on the ground, he is seeing the belief in his squad grown - though he insists it was there all along.
"I think the character they showed in the second half answers that question for itself," said Appleton when asked about his side's confidence. "There was a belief before we've had this little spell that we could win games.
"I think back, forget the MK Dons game, but the ones before that, your Salford game, etc, I thought we were the much better side in those games and we came out on the wrong end of the results.
"Luckily over the last two weeks, we have come out the right end."
Part of that increased faith in Shrewsbury's ability to win games has this week come from the fact they ground out three points against a battling Crawley side.
Appleton added: "We were nowhere near our best, by any stretch of the imagination, but I'll tell you what, we had a lot of effort, endeavour, enthusiasm, energy to get up to people.
"And it told, that's why we had to make the substitution, you know, there were a few lads cramping up, struggling to get up to people later in the latter stages of the game, so we used the squad as well as we possibly could."
