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Micky Mellon hails Shrewsbury's Capital One Cup win over Norwich

Image: Micky Mellon: Hailed his Shrewsbury side

Micky Mellon was all smiles after Shrewsbury's impressive Capital One Cup run continued with a deserved 1-0 victory over Sky Bet Championship high-flyers Norwich.

James Collins headed the only goal of the game nine minutes into the second half as Norwich were sent the same way as Blackpool and Barclays Premier League side Leicester in the last two rounds.

It means League Two Shrewsbury are through to the last 16 of the competition for the first time since the 1986-87 season.

"The atmosphere was fantastic," said Mellon, whose side have won six and drawn the other of their seven home games this season.

"It's what cup nights are all about and I must say again how proud I am of my players because it was no smash and grab.

"We tried to get the ball down and pass it and tried to control the game by keeping possession and the players did that.

"We thoroughly deserve to be in the next round."

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Mellon was pleased with the quality of the decisive goal with Collins looping a header over keeper Declan Rudd after Jermaine Grandison flicked on a free-kick from impressive captain Liam Lawrence.

"I'm delighted for James Collins to get a fantastic goal," said Mellon, whose team carved out more chances than the Canaries.

"The lads can give themselves tremendous credit.

"What I'm most pleased about is the way that they played, the way that they knocked the ball about, the way they passed it, the way they were brave under pressure and got it down against a very good Norwich side.

"We're proud of our home and we'll always make it very difficult for anybody who comes here and everyone including the fans can consider themselves a big part of that tonight."

Norwich failed to test Shrewsbury goalkeeper Jayson Leutwiler throughout the 90 minutes although both Kyle Lafferty and Steven Whittaker may have done better with chances at either end of the game.

"I'm really disappointed," admitted Norwich manager Neil Adams, who made 11 changes but still fielded a team packed with top-flight experience.

"I felt we had a strong enough team out and we should have won the game," he added.

"We should have been capable of winning the game and that's not being disrespectful to Shrewsbury because they've got the goal.

"We just needed to do better. We started okay, we controlled the game and we controlled the possession, missed a couple of chances that could have changed the game, but generally speaking looking at 90 minutes, we've lost 1-0, we've not scored a goal and that isn't good enough."

Adams, who was able to hand first starts of the season to fit-again pair Jonny Howson and Gary Hooper, stressed: "I thought we overplayed at times. When we got into crossing positions the crosses weren't bang on the money.

"Even the ones we did put in, the movement wasn't great.

"I didn't think it was good enough. Looking at the team and how the game panned out, we should have done better than that."

Adams felt it was a missed opportunity for the players he selected to press their claims for a place in the Canaries side pushing for a quick return to the Premier League.

He said: "You want to be after this game, five, six, 11 of them banging on the door saying you've got to play me and of course I don't think there will be too many saying that after tonight.

"It was an opportunity to play your way into the team."

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