Stephen McGinn out to prove a point to Zola

The midfielder was playing his first competitive football in nearly two years when he came off the bench in Town's last two games against Scunthorpe and Hartlepool.

The 24-year-old is due to stay until the end of the season, when his current contract also expires at Vicarage Road, but the Scot revealed he has an option for a further year with the Championship side.

That's if he can prove to Zola his knee surgery has not lessened the effectiveness he demonstrated in the middle of the park after his move from St Mirren in 2010.

McGinn became a regular under former Watford manager Malky Mackay until he suffered cruciate ligament damage.

He said: "It's important I play as many games as I can and prove that my injury problems are well and truly over.

"Before coming to Shrewsbury, I had played 10 full games for Watford's reserves but, in the end, you are judged week in and week out at senior level.

"I worked hard in the gym while I was out and I feel more powerful in my game so, hopefully, I have become a better player.

"There's an option on my contract at Watford and, while there's a lot of players there doing extremely well, Gianfranco spoke to me last week.

"He said he will keep tabs on how I'm doing at Shrewsbury."

The borrowed Hornets man made a solid home debut in the second-half of the weekend draw alongside fellow new recruit David McAllister.

McGinn said: "It is a very hard division to win games in so we need to lift our performances to convert draws into wins.

"We had a lot of drive in the last 20 minutes and, when we play like that, we are difficult to deal with."