Micky Mellon laying out the welcome Mat
Micky Mellon has hailed Shrewsbury Town comeback man Mat Sadler his unsung hero.
Sadler played the last eight games of the season after Junior Brown was injured and was more consistent than when he started the campaign in below-par form.
"It would be fair to say he didn't start the way he wanted to," said the Town boss.
"It took him a while to get going and he was involved in some penalty incidents and things like that which didn't help his cause to get him going.
"But he showed unbelievable character to come in at the end of the season and perform like he did.
"He's a steady performer – he's not someone who's going to get people sitting on the edge of their seats or off their seats applauding him.
"He's an unsung hero who gets on with his job tidily and does a lot of the basics well.
"So he showed great character to come back and perform the way he did.
"That's the way I expected him to do it – I never expected anything much different to that.
"I'm pleased he showed that character, and he even got a goal (at Walsall) so he did get people on their feet! I got that one wrong!"
Meanwhile, Mellon admits avoiding relegation was the highlight of his season.
The Town boss led Salop on an exhaustive campaign of 56 games which included a run to the FA Cup fifth round – their best for 25 years – with the scalps of Championship sides Blackburn, Cardiff and Sheffield Wednesday in the knock-outs to rake in a bumper payday against Manchester United.
But Mellon rates staying above the drop line as his major achievement. "Probably the survival at the end, just to say 'job done' because it was tough," he said.
"But the decision we made to do what we did halfway through the season was a big one."
Mellon reckons he's found an ally in the tinkerman stakes in the top flight.
"I spoke to an experienced manager at a Premier League club recently and he said he was a very pragmatic manager. I asked him what he meant by that.
"He said you have to change things all the time during games and I started laughing because I said he sounded like me. He said 'that's what you've got to do when you haven't got the best team in the league'.
"He said 'you've got to be able to see when a game's not going your way, look at the qualities in your group and find a way'. I think we did that an awful lot."
