Shrewsbury Town boss salutes his defensive kingpins

The Greenhous Meadow boss was delighted to see his team collect three more home points after Jean-Louis Akpa Akpro's late goal proved enough to see off Burton Albion 1-0 on Saturday.

The result meant Town leapfrogged Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink's side to climb to third place in the race for promotion and it sets Shrewsbury up nicely for this weekend's FA Cup second-round trip to League One outfit Preston North End.

Mellon highlighted several positives from his side's display and was impressed with the performances of back three Connor Goldson, Jermaine Grandison and Nat Knight-Percival.

The trio quickly bounced back in style from the disappointment of Town conceding three times in the second half during the 3-2 defeat at Exeter a week earlier.

Mellon described the importance of keeping a clean sheet as "huge" as Town kept it tight at the back to earn goalkeeper Jayson Leutwiler a 10th shut-out in 14 home games in league and cup this season.

Mellon said: "What we don't do is hold back here in what we believe has gone wrong or what we believe we should have done better.

"If we fall below our standards then people get told. But they've took it in the right way and the three centre-backs defended absolutely fantastically when they needed to.

"They were getting asked other questions where they were having to come out and play because of the shape that Burton set up against us.

"They were the ones having to bring it into the midfield and try and pick their passes – and I thought that they did that well."

Mellon also praised the debut of Fulham loanee Josh Passley, saying: "To put in a performance like that, he can be really, really pleased."