Shrewsbury have craved this consistency - Appleton

Michael Appleton's side have won 11 points from their last six games having taken five points from their first 10 matches

Shrewsbury Town boss Michael Appleton has urged his team to capitalise on their "huge" win over fellow League Two strugglers Newport County.

Anthony Scully's long-range strike sealed a 1-0 victory on Saturday in the battle of the bottom two, which lifted the Shrews out of the relegation places and up to 21st.

A run of three wins and two draws in their past six league matches has brought Town within three points of 16th-placed Tranmere in a congested bottom half. Just six points separate Oldham, in 15th, from second-bottom Cheltenham.

"It's given us an opportunity to get five points ahead of Newport," he told BBC Radio Shropshire.

"A few weeks ago we wanted to suck as many people into this situation as we possibly could, and I think results did that.

"So it's a huge win for us, and hopefully we can capitalise on it."

Appleton felt his side should have been more comfortable winners, but did not want to downplay a third straight home victory in the league - all with clean sheets.

Prior to that run, Shrewsbury had gone 14 league matches without victory at the Croud Meadow.

"We've been craving that as a football club, even before I got here, a little bit of rhythm, a little bit of consistency at home," he added.

"We went so long without winning a game at home and it feels great to give the fans something back.

"Obviously, there's a long way to go and we're still in a very precarious position, but within that dressing room, we want to give them an opportunity to scream and shout and cheer and I'm glad they got that again today."

He has also challenged match-winner Scully to add simple finishes to his repertoire after his long-range winner on Saturday.

"I worked with him for two-and-a-half years at Lincoln, and I know the type of goals he can score," he said.

"He likes the spectacular one, [but] we want him to get a few more tap-ins. That's important, and I think he knows that.

"It's a wonderful goal, I was used to him over a period of time, scoring goals like that on a reasonably regular basis."