Micky Mellon: A great adventure for Town

The Manchester United game saw them as the lowest-ranked team left in the competition.

It came after a run to the last 16 which won them many friends on route to leave Mellon a proud and delighted man.

The Town boss said: "We took some major scalps along the way and it was a fantastic adventure for us.

"We filled the stadium and the players had the opportunity of playing against a club the size of Manchester United.

"We were able to see a fantastic team of the quality of United and they came here and showed us that.

"I couldn't fault my players; they gave us everything they had, but they came up against a superb team."

Mellon had no complaints about the outcome but admitted the first goal, scored by Chris Smalling, was deflating as it dented their game-plan.

He said: "Yes it was, because we got to the 37th minute and we'd said we wanted to get through certain spells, but we maybe rode our luck a bit.

"But I was determined not to say anything about my players other than they kept fighting. So let's move on to Saturday and Colchester, which is the most important thing."

Town's run took in six games against teams from four different levels of the footballing pyramid.

Wins came against one National League North side (Gainsborough Trinity), one National League outfit after a replay (Grimsby) and two Championship teams (Cardiff and Sheffield Wednesday) before Monday's 3-0 defeat to United.

Along the way, Town scored six goals – including two dramatic, last-gasp winners from Abu Ogogo and Jack Grimmer – and conceded five, with four clean sheets.

It was Shrewsbury's first appearance in the fifth round since 1991, when they lost 1-0 to Arsenal, and their seventh overall.