Dave Edwards: Plenty to sing about after Saturday’s stunning Shrewsbury Town show

The connection with the fans offered a brilliant afternoon at the Croud Meadow.

Despite a tough run of fixtures, I wasn’t overly worried. The games against the big teams take care of themselves and with a bumper crowd, with Shrews not expected to win, the pressure is off. But Shrewsbury were absolutely terrific.

Derby started well and were dominating the ball, but Town didn’t panic. They got the balance just right between attack and defence.

They were still as solid as ever and Marko Marosi had to make a few good saves, but then they created so many opportunities going forward.

There hasn’t been many games where we can say they created several chances, so they are moving in the right direction.

For Tom Bayliss, against his boyhood club, to make up for his penalty miss by being involved in the goal, he’ll be so pleased.

The team kept going after missing the penalty. A lot of teams will dip after that, but they were still really positive and kept creating chances. Even after the goal they kept creating.

The did have to do some defending and the back three were excellent as usual. But they kept the threat going with chances to make it 2-0.

As an overall performance, it was absolutely fantastic. They now have seven points from the last nine and are starting to build. Matt Taylor will be delighted with how they’re improving.

When you look at the riches of Derby’s squad and how Shrewsbury can compete against them and outclass them at times, it’s a real positive. Derby had a number of players on their bench that would start for Shrewsbury, but it shows you how well they did and how far togetherness can take you.

Considering the September they’ve had, they now find themselves in a much more positive place.

Results are so important in football. It gives the manager freedom from criticism, but being in football as long as I have, you look at performances over a longer period of time and consistencies.

I always feel if a team is doing the right things game after game and not getting rewarded, that it will come.

The Oxford game, before this run, saw three avoidable goals against a team flying in the league. Before that, they got one point against Leyton Orient and Charlton but it could easily have been four or six points.

I take all these games into account and they have been building to his point. They’re getting better consistently, there’s a belief building in the squad and the more time they spend on the training pitch together, hopefully the better they’ll come.

They have a tough run of games until Christmas, but they’ve put themselves in a good position. Getting results eases that pressure and they can now attack these next few games with some confidence.

Away at Barnsley is a tough game, they’re right up there, but hopefully they can frustrate them and play on the counter. Belief and momentum is so important in football.