Michael Appleton 'delighted at times' as Shrewsbury Town chalk up another win

Playing for the first time on home turf this summer, Town took the lead when John Marquis lobbed the ball over the keeper. 

In the second half, George Nurse fired home from range, and Max Mata, who was making his first appearance for Shrews since returning from his loan spell in New Zealand, added a third. 

“I was happy, and delighted at times,” the Shrewsbury boss said, reflecting on a solid afternoon's work. “I thought at times in the first half we created countless opportunities and made the goalkeeper work, had lots of box entries, and they were from different situations as well.

“Some were from a little bit of build-up play - slow build-up play at times - and some where we recognised when to quicken things up.

“There was a lot from transitions as well where we defended quite well and looked to stop them playing through us.

“First half felt very comfortable and I was very happy with it, and then after lots of changes in the second half it was a bit mixed for the first 20 minutes, but we came strong again at the back end of the game and scored three quality goals."

Appleton went on to suggest he felt his side should have won even more comfortably, referencing a number of first-half opportunities that were spurned by his side.

“We scored three really good goals, but ironically some of the chances that we missed were a lot simpler,” he said. “We are getting into some good habits, and that’s what pre-season is all about, getting into your habits and making sure you get the bits of detail that people maybe don’t see with the eye. The unselfish runs, the recovery runs and we had a lot of that today.

“One thing we can improve on from today is our wing backs getting in at the back post, because there were too many occasions where a ball was flashed across the six-yard box.

“There are goals there for players, and we do need goals from all areas.

“We saw midfielders taking pot-shots today, and it’s obviously nice to see all our strikers have scored (in pre-season).”

After playing the last three matches against non-league opponents tougher tests await Appleton's side. The standard of opposition will now rise for the final two matches of their pre-season schedule. 

Town welcome Bolton to Shropshire on Tuesday evening before playing against Premier League side Burnley on Saturday. 

The League Two campaign starts a week after the clash against the Clarets on August 2, where Shrews will play Bromley at home.