Micky Mellon tells Town to be ruthless

Nicky Ajose's 34th-minute goal - his seventh in his last nine - gave the Robins their fourth straight win.

Salop failed to test goalkeeper Lawrence Vigouroux, despite several crosses from their man of the match Junior Brown.

Shrewsbury lacked the energy and movement to trouble Martin Ling's side going forward and boss Mellon expressed his frustration afterwards.

Mellon said: "The disappointing thing was we didn't get on the end of anything going into the box.

"In terms of fire and endeavour, we gave it a right good go in the second-half, but we didn't get on the end of any crosses to change the course of the game.

"I thought in the first half we didn't quite get going but in the second half we showed a lot more belief. We started to get among them a lot more and started to get a lot more in the box.

"That was the disappointing thing because when the ball goes into the box, we say to the guy putting it in 'try to break that line between the guy going for it and the goalkeeper.'

"Nine times out of 10 if it's not going to go in the goal, it's going to go to the goalkeeper, so break that line and try to get in front of the goalkeeper. But we never did that enough.

"We needed more quality when we got into those vital areas or maybe a bit of fortune or cunning in the 18-yard box to get on the end of those crosses for the number of penalty-area entries we had."

Despite the struggle to create chances, Mellon believes his side deserved a point for bossing possession after the break.

He said: "I think for what we did in the second half we deserved a draw because the game was played in Swindon's half, but in the first half we were a bit stand-offish."

Ajose struck when he ran in between Dom Smith and Anthony Gerrard to convert Anton Rodgers's cross.

Mellon said: "It was disappointing because it was from a second phase in play and we speak about it all the time - when the ball goes out wide, you've still got to pick people up.

"You don't switch off and allow crosses to go into the box. It was a fantastic strike across the face of goal by the lad, but we were disappointed because two of them came in at the far post unmarked."

Scott Vernon had an effort disallowed from Brown's free kick in the 58th minute and Mellon admitted he was unsure about the decision.

He said: "I didn't have a view of it so you just have to hope the linesman got it right. I'm a bit disappointed if we were offside from a cross into the box, but I can't really comment on it until I see it again."

Sullay Kaikai will be assessed to see if he can be fit for the Boxing Day visit of Fleetwood, after limping off in the 79th minute after falling awkwardly from his own headed chance.

Mellon said: "We'll see how he is over the next few hours. We made all the changes we could to try to get something out of it, but it wasn't to be."