Mellon tells Shrewsbury Town to win physical battle against Scunthorpe

The Town boss admits his side were second best in the physical stakes when they lost 2-1 at Glanford Park in October after second-half goals from Scott Laird and Paddy Madden cancelled out Sullay Kaikai's early strike.

"In the second half we got outmuscled and overran, and it was another game where we felt things must improve and we need to get better because we've gone up a level," said boss Mellon. "So it's an opportunity for us to see how far we've come – the standards have been set from previous performances.

"Everybody knows what we're capable of and we'll be looking for that again.

"We know it's a tough game but we're looking forward to playing football at the minute."

Left-back Junior Brown has a chance of being fit but Jayson Leutwiler (thigh), Zak Whitbread (hamstring), Jermaine Grandison (hip) and James Wallace (knee) are set to miss out again.

Brown limped off with a nerve problem from his back to his hamstring in Tuesday's 2-1 win over Coventry and Mat Sadler – his replacement in midweek – stands by.

"It's a spasm-type thing so we'll see how that pans out, but we're hopeful," said Mellon.

"It will be too early for Jayson and Zak. Jayson's is another wear and tear one – a thigh injury – so we'll look at him after the weekend.

"James did a bit of running yesterday but I wouldn't put a time on it because he's still got to get some training in with the balls.

"The injection has been successful so we're encouraged that he'll start to move forward rapidly.

"Jermaine just did the start of yesterday's training session so tomorrow might be too early for him."

Eleventh-placed Scunthorpe have developed a mean streak with three successive clean sheets and only four goals conceded in nine.

Mellon believes their know-how is key, adding: "A lot of their players have maybe 200-300 games in League One. Some here haven't played that many in their careers."