Scott Vernon's recall all part of Town's plan

The 31-year-old made his first appearance of the season in the FA Cup win at Gainsborough, when boss Mellon brought him off the bench ahead of Tyrone Barnett.

Vernon was made available along with Mickey Demetriou in pre-season and has turned down several moves, both permanent and loan.

But he got his chance in the tie in Lincolnshire – and Mellon explained why.

The Town boss said: "We always planned to use Vernon, at a stage of the game, if it went like it did.

"The game went the way we'd planned, so it was already written down that he'd come on because we go through every scenario of what might happen.

"The scenario for him to come on was if the game became a 'block.'

"We wanted to get another goalscorer on who was neat and tidy and a bit of a link man, a No 10, but who could get in-between the lines and could be a goal threat and link with James Collins.

"Lo and behold, we had that fellow on the bench in Scott Vernon."

Similarly, Mellon had a plan for winger Shaun Whalley to also come off the bench at Gainsborough.

He said: "The reason why we used Whalley was if they had 10 men behind the ball – and they did, with 11 at times.

"One of the ways to beat a 'block' is to get around the outside and Whalley is probably the best at that."

Fans have questioned Mellon's reasons for changing formations and tactics and the Town chief insisted there's always a 'method in his madness.'

He said: "There will be a detail and a thought process why, which is that someone can give us more in a certain role in a given scenario, be that chasing a game or whatever.

"We sit here from 8am until 6pm working on detail and scenarios that might come up. In the last game, we changed from a certain shape to 4-4-2 and we won."

Meanwhile, a stunning volley from Ryan Barnett earned Town's youth team a point at home to Wrexham in the Football League Youth Alliance North West league.

Wrexham threatened first at Shrewsbury Sports Village when Ryan Williams volleyed over before Niall Freeman headed Jordan Davies's cross over.

However, Town almost went ahead when Ryan Barnett's rising shot forced a diving stop from goalkeeper Reece Airey.

Wrexham took the lead on 26 minutes, as Davies chipped forwards and Johnny Smith fired into the right corner.

Barnett equalised with a side-foot volley from Mathew Jones's cross in first-half injury time. With 10 minutes to go, George Halsall headed against the bar.