Town's Abu Ogogo can 'go to the next level'

The tireless performer is Town's only ever-present this term and has scored spectacular goals against Bury and Grimsby.

He also continues to churn out box-to-box performances and has been one of their most consistent players.

The 26-year-old is closing in on 300 career appearances, all of which have been in the bottom two divisions for Barnet on loan, Dagenham & Redbridge and Shrewsbury after being released by Arsenal.

But Mellon believes the Londoner, now happily settled in Wolverhampton, has proved himself at this level and could play in the Championship.

Asked if he could go higher, Mellon said: "I think so. He's a good age as well and he came from Arsenal originally, so he's got a good pedigree.

"But we saw a lot of qualities in him when he was at Dagenham and he stepped forward."He came in from League Two and he can say he's a League One player now.

"We're very happy with him and the nice thing is he wants to keep improving. He likes being here and we're getting good performances out of him."

Mellon believes Ogogo's consistency is down to his determination to be a team player and effect games.

The Town boss said: "He's got incredible desire. If you see the clips of him, you see the amount of ground he covers and he can sometimes be an unsung hero.

"We look at all of the performances and it's not just what they do with the football.

"The closing down he does, the tackles he puts in and the ground he covers to cover his team-mates box to box is ridiculous.

"It's fantastic, and it's great to have because you need those types of players in the group. I've always like to have players like that in my team, but he's also a terrific guy.

"He's a fantastic kid and desperate to win, so we're absolutely delighted with him and made up to have him. So he's a big plus along with an awful lot of them who have done really well."

Mellon revealed plenty of groundwork was done before they signed Ogogo on a free transfer in the summer.

He said: "We did an awful lot of asking about him and, when we saw the chance to get him, we felt it was an opportunity for us."

Meanwhile, Mellon admits Town dropped lucky with the 'freebie' signing of Anthony Gerrard.

The 29-year-old centre-back is rebuilding his career after being snubbed by nine clubs in the summer and is earning rave reviews as he continues to play for free.

The Town chief added: "If anybody in recruitment says it's just a case of hand-picking players you absolutely want, they are lying.

"They're not often available at the right times. We got lucky with the availability of Anthony. He's a character, a leader and he's a very good defender. We needed organisers and leaders at that time.

"We knew he was the type of centre-back we needed to get in along with Zak Whitbread. He loves defending, he wants to be good and he wants his team-mates around him to be good.

"So if there's more of those types of players available, give them to me. I'll go and get as many as possible."