Manager’s challenge to Mellor

David Mellor

DAVID Mellor showed guts to recover from a shaky first-half at Shrewsbury to offer the move that effectively preserved three points for Athletic.

Now his manager has laid down the gauntlet to the 20-year-old: show everyone how good I know you can be.

“It was a great tackle,” said Lee Johnson, who fielded the Shaw player at left-back after Joseph Mills returned to Burnley. David is such a good player, but he annoyed me at Shrewsbury.

“I think he’s got everything; he just needs that mental strength to produce what he has got. I just want his best all of the time.”

“Both the next two fixtures (Bradford, then Mansfield in the FA Cup second round) are against sides who are very direct and quite sharp.

“We are going to have to deal with that, but at least we have a good rest now. We are not on the road but back at our place, where our faithful will be right behind us. We are on the up and it is looking good.”