‘We’ve been craving this’ - Michael Appleton revels in Shrewsbury Town’s home revival

Salop secured their third consecutive victory at the Meadow with a slender 1-0 win over League Two basement side Newport County last Saturday - a feat they had not achieved since August 2023. 

The victory, sealed by Anthony Scully’s stunning second-half strike, lifted Shrewsbury to 21st in the table, two points clear of the relegation zone. 

“The three clean sheets to add is massively important,” boss Appleton said. 

“We have been craving it as a football club haven’t we. Even before I got here, a little bit of rhythm, a little bit of consistency at home. 

“We went so long without winning a game at home and it feels great to give the fans something back.

“We have got a long way to go and we are still in a very precarious position, I get that. 

“But, within that dressing room, we want to give them an opportunity to scream and shout, and cheer, and I am glad they got that again.”

Shrewsbury have now lost just once in their last six league matches and have kept three consecutive clean sheets at home.

The significance of the clash needed little embellishment - lose, and Shrewsbury would drop to the bottom, win, and they would pull clear of the league’s basement side.

“It is one of the things that I did say to the players, that we would go up two or three places if we got the three points,” Appleton admitted. 

“Then it is up to us to kick on and really threaten the teams above us.

“What it has done is put us five points ahead of Newport. A few weeks ago we wanted to suck as many teams in, teams above us were losing, teams around us were winning.

“It is a big win, a huge win for us, hopefully we can capitalise on it.”

The victory came at the end of a difficult week, with sickness sweeping through the camp and affecting several members of the coaching staff. 

Midfielder Taylor Perry missed the game after spending Friday night in hospital, though he had returned home by Saturday.

Asked whether he expects the rest of his squad to remain unaffected, Appleton added: “Hopefully, I was tempted to make sure nobody turns up on Monday morning to try and make sure we get rid of this.

“But, so far from a player point of view there has only been Taylor. It is the majority of the staff that have gone down.

“We are still in a position that is a little bit uncomfortable for all of us, so we want to do it right. 

“I am hoping that these couple of days away from the training ground will give us the opportunity to get it away. 

“But, that might change. We might get a phone call with one or two players going down and we would have to rethink it and have another look.”