Micky Mellon: Hunger games for Shrewsbury

Town drew a blank in Saturday's 1-0 defeat to Swindon and have scored just three times in their last five games.

Mellon's side are now just a point and a place above the drop zone – and the Salop chief wants players to attack more crosses and show more movement.

He said: "We've got to do more of all of that. We've got to be optimistic in the 18-yard box to put ourselves on the end of one of those crosses.

"You can only do that by trying to be lucky, looking for luck and showing good movement by getting across the front of people.

"We've got to be on our toes and look for ricochets, but we weren't good enough at those on Saturday.

"We needed more quality in those vital areas, a bit of fortune or cunning in the penalty area."

Saturday's game kicked off a four-match spell against teams around Town, with Fleetwood at home on Boxing Day, Crewe away two days later and Chesterfield away on January 2.

But Mellon played down the importance of the festive games, adding: "There's no game any more important. We need to continue to try to fix the areas we need to be better in.

"Up front we've got to do more in that 18-yard box to give ourselves a chance of winning games."

Larnell Cole didn't feature after breaking down again with his groin injury, while Jermaine Grandison and Zak Whitbread still have hamstring problems.

Mellon added: "There was no chance of any of them making the bench."

Meanwhile, striker Kaiman Anderson has joined Northern Premier Halesowen Town on loan to January.

And goalkeeper Shaun Rowley has extended his loan there to next month. Anderson made his debut in Saturday's 1-1 draw against Frickley.