Shrewsbury Town players urged not to be the headline ahead of Sutton FA Cup clash
Shrewsbury Town have been warned to "be the story not the headline" as they prepare to visit non-league Sutton United in the FA Cup.
Salop will look to avoid slipping up against Sutton, who present a potential banana skin for the League Two side.
Town avoided leaving South Shields pink faced in the first round, where they won comfortably, and boss Michael Appleton and his players are determined to avoid an upset.
Striker George Lloyd said: "You can kind of get away with having one bad game in League Two and losing it, and then still have a decent season.
"But, it's the same as what Michael said to us after South Shields, you have to stay professional and stick to what you do.
"He said be a story not a headline, and it's just about making sure we are not the ones everyone is talking about afterwards."
Appleton added: "He's quoted me a little bit. Which is true, it's true.
"The cameras are there for a reason, people are there for a reason because they want to see a headline and we certainly don't want to be the headline.
"We just want to be that little piece, three or four pages in from the back pages and that will suit us down to the ground and if that is the case, I'll be delighted."
Sutton United, who sit 17th in the National League, have been in impressive form since Chris Agutter's appointment as head coach in early October.
The U's have just one loss in their least eight league matches, and are unbeaten in five, with three consecutive wins.
"It's some record, it doesn't matter what level of football you're at, if you can produce that type of record," Appleton admitted.
"Any manager, any coach going into a game would be delighted with that type of record. So they're clearly doing something right.
"They're a little bit less back to foot now. They play some decent stuff, similar to what we faced in the past. So it's going to be a really tough game against a side that are full of confidence, and probably going into the game thinking that they can win the game just as much as we can.
"I think we've got to focus on ourselves a little bit, but you've got to give them the respect."
A win would see Shrewsbury progress to the third round, where they could potentially face one of English football’s giants.
"I think it's important to be aware of it because I think that would be a little bit naive and unprofessional from our point of view," Appleton continued.
"But at the same time, we have got a focus on potential outcomes of the game and we know what their strengths are. We certainly know what their weaknesses are as well and I'm sure that they're the same with us.
"But I think that the way we start games on the front foot, if we do that, we give ourselves the best chance to come through the game, get into the next round and hopefully get a nice draw."
