SHREWS SETTLE FOR SECOND
MICKY Mellon was quick to offer his congratulations to Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink and Burton Albion after Shrewsbury had to settle for runners-up spot in League Two.
Shrewsbury kicked off knowing a final day win might have been enough to secure the title.
But Plymouth, determined to put a dampener on the Shropshire club’s promotion party, pulled off an impressive victory which sets them up nicely for their play-off semifinal showdown against Wycombe Wanderers.
Kelvin Mellor set up an early goal for Bobby Reid before breaking forward to double the advantage on the stroke of halftime as Argyle joined Northampton as the only away side to pick up three points at the Greenhous Meadow this season.
Mellon, whose team clinched promotion at Cheltenham a week earlier, said:“Every congratulation to Burton. They were very worthy winners, relentless to the end, and congratulations to Jimmy Floyd and his players.
“We weren’t quite good enough towards the end and finished runners-up, which is still a fantastic effort from the lads so we’re delighted.
“It’s been a good season for the length of it. We’ve had some fantastic results and the boys have been consistent, always bouncing back from defeats and putting winning sequences together.”
While Mellon and his players can now relax, the hard work continues for Plymouth as they look forward to taking on Wycombe over two legs for the right to progress to Wembley.
“It will be a tough game,” said Argyle boss John Sheridan.“It doesn’t matter who we were playing, I’m expecting a tough game.We’ll prepare properly all week for what’s going to be a good atmosphere, a full house.
“We’re at home first so we would like to go into the game and try and get an advantage.”
Plymouth made light of the absence of injured top scorer Reuben Reid and the influential Lewis Alessandra to impress at Shrewsbury’s expense – with Sheridan delighted with his side’s display.
He stressed: “Coming up against a team who were going for the title, I thought we were top drawer from the first whistle. I thought our first-half performance was really, really good.”
Argyle came racing out of the blocks to take a third-minute lead with Mellor’s low cross from the right expertly steered home by the excellent Bobby Reid.
Mellor doubled the lead just before the break when he finished coolly after the ball ran kindly for him 12 yards out. Shrewsbury chased the game in the second half and a deflected shot from Ryan Woods brought a fingertip save from Luke McCormick.
Bobby Grant headed a Liam Lawrence cross straight at the keeper and Tyrone Barnett blasted a 20-yarder just off target. But Argyle almost stretched their lead just before the end when sub Tyler Harvey’s free-kick was brilliantly helped over the bar by Jayson Leutwiler.