Mellon hails Akpa Akpro

Micky Mellon hailed Jean-Louis Akpa Akpro following the forward's fine hat-trick as Shrewsbury turned on the style to beat Bury 5-0.

The Frenchman had only previously scored once this season, a penalty against Accrington in August, but Bury had no answer as he completed his treble early in the second half of a one-sided clash. Akpa Akpro had a loan spell at Bury last season in which he failed to score, but the Shakers had no answer to his lethal finishing, much to the delight of Mellon. "He's capable of that," said Mellon. "Everybody says if Jean-Louis added goals to his performances he probably wouldn't be playing for Shrewsbury, he would probably be playing in the higher end of the Championship. "He needs to score more goals because, as you've seen here, he's well capable of that." Skipper Connor Goldson and substitute Jordan Clark also weighed in as Shrewsbury eased to their biggest win of the season. "It was a really good performance, top class," enthused Mellon. "We've scored goals at very good times. Bury are a really good side and we've took our chances when they've come along. It was important we did that in a game I thought would be very, very tight." Shrewsbury, who remain unbeaten at home, are now up to fifth in the League Two table after stringing together three successive victories. "Any kind of result was going to be massive for us," added Mellon. "We got a terrific result at York (last Saturday) and we had to get a result. "We left ourselves a little bit to do with not picking up points in previous weeks on the road. "The result is terrific but it was more important we came out of the game with three points because Bury have blazed a path in front of us and they'll continue to do that. "Any team that finishes above them, if indeed anybody does, will find themselves getting promoted because they're a very good side." Bury manager Dave Flitcoft found it impossible to hide his disappointment after seeing his side beaten on their travels for a third successive game. "I know we've got a problem away from home and obviously it was evident again, but the buck stops with me," said Flitcroft. "I'm the manager, I pick the team, I pick the formation and it's not worked. "I've got to analyse my performance and make sure it doesn't happen again because I'm hurting. I've let people down. "Five goals conceded is not something that I represent. It's not something that is in my nature to allow it to be so easy you can get beat." Flitcroft, whose side slipped from second to fourth in the table as a result, added: "We got beat down at Exeter, I know the reasons why we got beat at Wimbledon, but we didn't get to grips with a very good Shrewsbury team. "We made it quite apparent that this was the toughest test of the season to the players before so they were well aware of the test. "It was an outstanding performance by Shrewsbury but we aided them in every single goal they scored and it could have been seven or eight."