Scoreless Shrewsbury Town striker wins Micky Mellon's praise
Shrewsbury Town boss Micky Mellon has told goalless grafter Kyle Vassell to carry on as he is – and forecast a waiting game for his other forwards.
Vassell went into today's clash at Millwall without a goal in his 11 appearances for Town.
But the on-loan Peterborough striker's prodigious work-rate has helped propel Sullay Kaikai and Shaun Whalley to the top of the club's scoring charts.
And Mellon says the likes of Andy Mangan, Jean-Louis Akpa Akpro and Elliot Grandin must await their chance.
"The energy and the ground Kyle covers is absolutely fantastic and if the team's scoring goals and he's doing what he's doing, I'll take that all day long," said boss Mellon.
"There's no pressure on him to do anything else.
"I'm very happy with his performances. We'd like Kyle to be scoring, but if he was scoring and bone idle I'd have something to say.
"He brings a lot of qualities – he leads that line incredibly well, he takes a lot of bumps and bruises for others to grab the headlines, and he embarrasses people into hard work, which is brilliant. If you asked players about Kyle they'd speak very highly of him."
Mellon sees the 23-year-old as a player's player.
"He's a good team-mate – he takes some bashing and he dishes it out but he never whinges," added the boss.
"He runs and runs and defenders know they've been in a game with him."
The form of front three Vassell, Sullay Kaikai and Shaun Whalley has meant several players have had to be patient.
"It's been tough on a few – Elliot Grandin, Andy Mangan, Larnell Cole and Jean-Louis Akpa Akpro because no-one could tell me the boys playing haven't done really well," said Mellon.
"But they're all here to play, I trust them all, and if I think there's something different someone can bring and it carries forward the momentum of the team, we'll change it.
"Some have been unlucky. We've played with three front men and it's suited Sullay Kaikai and Shaun Whalley better playing alongside the big fellow (Vassell) than Mangan.
"Mangan's probably better in a two, but if the opportunity comes up, I'll put him in."
Grandin finally made his debut in Tuesday's Shropshire Senior Cup win over AFC Telford United. Mellon said: "He's not match-fit – he's had about an hour in a reserve game and the time he got the other night.
"We've seen glimpses of his quality, but we've got the League One player of the month in that front line. It's going to be hard to move him."
