Match preview: Shrewsbury Town v Latics

And so it continues deep into the month of April – the season that was all but done in early February is absolutely not done. Latics’ bid for a second consecutive promotion retains an air of realism rather than blind optimism.

Micky Mellon collected his League Two manager of the month yesterday and had a picture taken with his staff, all the way down to the kit man. It’s a team effort, sayeth the picture. Mellon allowed himself a public smile for the occasion, but you get the feeling that it disappeared as soon as the camera shutter closed, to be replaced by his usual granite countenance. Mellon’s resting face is etched with determination and an unmatchable appetite for work. There is always work to be done with Mellon, always something more to do. Sow in tears, reap with joy.

Shrewsbury Town know Mellon all too well. Mellon has managed six clubs (Barnsley doesn’t count because he was caretaker) and has overseen one or more promotions with all of them bar Dundee United – not even Mellon has mastered the trick of getting promoted from the top tier. His record is astonishing. He is out there on his own as a lower-leagues promotion specialist.

Town are no match for Latics, although they possess one stand-out midfielder – Tommy McDermott – who can cause problems. After the heroics of the past two months, Latics have shown signs of physical fatigue in that department especially. Tom Pett and Ryan Woods, both veterans, need the legs of Kai Payne and Oli Hammond…while Payne and Hammond need the nous and wherewithal of Pett and Woods. Medical science does not provide a solution to this problem yet, but Mellon will probably cobble together something that works for tomorrow.

Tomorrow’s game, like all remaining games, is a must-win for Latics and a further step on the journey to the beach for Shrewsbury.

Mellon’s team talk, at this stage of an enormously successful season, will be down to 10-words or fewer, the final two of which are “Just win.”