We must build on first win and start looking up, says Shrewsbury Town boss John Askey

Askey ended his winless run by claiming a first Salop victory during this campaign, with a comfortable 2-0 win over Southend.

The three points, Town’s first in eight league games this season, moves them out of the bottom four and up to 17th. First-half goals for Greg Docherty and Lee Angol did the damage for the hosts, who have now lost just once in seven. And former Macclesfield chief Askey wants his players to use the result as a springboard to kick-start their season and build on the deserved win.

“We’ve got to use that now, for confidence. We won’t get carried away, like we didn’t get carried away when we weren’t winning, but it’s important that we keep trying to build on it and improve,” said Askey.

“The atmosphere (in the squad) has been good and the win can only improve it. Winning can be a habit and hopefully we start to get that.

“We all hope (it’s the monkey off the back). It has been coming, I think we’ve all seen that. But until it happens, especially for a manager, it’s always a worry it’s not going to happen. Hopefully now we can look up rather than what’s around us.

“We’ve played a good side and we’ve more than competed – probably been the better side. They’ve got a lot of good players, players that have played at a higher level. To beat them 2-0 and possibly could’ve scored more is very satisfying.”

Askey has regularly praised the performance of his players despite elusive wins getting away from his side in a stuttering start to his Montgomery Waters Meadow tenure. The boss believed that his newly-assembled squad were gelling and improving each game, but stressed that adding a victory to that run of form will bring belief in his coaching methods.

The boss added: “The big thing is the confidence and the belief that what we’re doing is right. We’ve lost one in seven, we haven’t been getting the wins but we haven’t been losing either.

“If we can keep that mentality, where we don’t lose, to the end of the season, then hopefully we can win more than we’re drawing. We’re obviously looking to get up the table.”