Town go to Blackburn in Capital One Cup
Shrewsbury Town boss Micky Mellon cranked up the stakes for another Capital One Cup run after hailing the draw at Blackburn as a "fantastic opportunity."
Town were paired away to seeded Championship side Rovers in today's first round tie and will go to Ewood Park, in the week beginning August 10, after the first league game of the season.
Mellon is excited about the draw and is looking for Shrewsbury to repeat their cup exploits from last season.
Town beat then-Championship outfit Blackpool, top flight side Leicester and were just pipped by eventual Premier League champions Chelsea in the third round, losing 2-1.
Mellon said: "It will be a fantastic opportunity for us to go and measure ourselves against a excellent Blackburn side.
"Regardless of the time of the season, it's a great place to go and a chance to see how we do against a top Championship team. It's important for us for a whole raft of reasons.
"The players can measure themselves against a really good team and see what they need to improve on, or they might look at it and say 'I'm quite comfortable at that level.'
"Then as a group it's always important for us to try to do the best we can because of the revenue from it."
Mellon insisted his players will be ready for the step up in class against Rovers.
He said: "There's a lot that can happen before this match but we want to do well in every game and when that one comes around, we'll be ready for it.
"We want to give our fans something to cheer because they all got behind us brilliantly last season when we had a cup run.
"They loved it and we have to respect that and try to do the same again.
"We will go there with our strongest team in what will be a tough test, and whatever happens, we'll take the positives from it.
"I would have preferred a home draw for the advantage of being on our own pitch, but it's an opportunity for the players to perform on a fantastic stage and that's what football is all about."
Mellon has plenty of 'previous' with Blackburn, having played against them in Lancashire derbies for Burnley and Blackpool.
He also managed nearby Fleetwood and is looking forward to locking horns with them again.
He said: "I've had plenty of games against them in my career, especially derbies for Burnley, so I know what they're about.
"Their fans are very passionate and they expect Blackburn to win every game they play so the challenge is there for us.
"We won't be fancied going up there but it doesn't hold any fear for us.
"Blackburn will be the favourites but we want to go there and give a good account of ourselves and see where it takes us.
"If we're starting to grow as a club, we want to keep growing - even if we don't get as big as Blackburn, we want to close the gap as much as we can.
"It's important that a team the size of Shrewsbury continues to do well in these games to raise the profile of the club and we can do that by moving it forwards against big sides."
