Time to 'stop talking and start doing' - Appleton

Michael Appleton has taken charge of nine different clubs in his managerial career

Shrewsbury Town head coach Michael Appleton says it is time to "stop talking and start doing" as his struggling side try to improve on their poor start to the League Two season.

Following relegation from League One last term, Town have found results hard to come by on their return to the fourth tier and are currently next to bottom of the table after collecting five points from their first 10 games.

Saturday's 2-1 home defeat by MK Dons was their third in a row following their only win so far at Barnet.

They have not won in front of their own fans at Croud Meadow since 1 February.

Appleton said his half-time message to his players with his side trailing 2-0 "wasn't nice" and was happy to see them "take more risks" as Chuks Aneke scored his first goal since joining on a free transfer last month.

But Town could not find an equaliser as they succumbed to their seventh defeat and ninth in 13 matches in all competitions.

"[It's] disappointment and frustration, there's nothing more to it than that," Appleton told BBC Radio Shropshire about his side's start to the campaign.

"There have been games when I've felt we really deserved to lose, but in a lot of the games, and certainly in the last five, we've been more than competitive and more than worthy of a lot more points.

"But words are words. Ultimately we have to stop talking and get doing, and that's my message to the players.

"The lads have shown they're capable. There's more than enough in that dressing room to start winning games and pulling away from the position that we're in.

"Hopefully you get the opportunity to do that, and if you don't, that's life."

'If we don't win games I know what happens'

Salop travel to Barrow in their next match on Saturday before back-to-back home games against Cambridge United and Crawley Town.

Appleton, who signed a two-year contract in May, says his team have to be more "resolute and be harder to beat when it comes to crucial moments" but knows if results do not improve, his job could be on the line.

"The players know how I feel about certain things, and I'm going to be honest, I'm not going to shy away from performances or results," he said.

"I'm standing here knowing the reality is we need to win more games, and if we don't, I know what happens.

"I've managed plenty of football clubs in plenty of games, and every now and again you need some help from the people who cross the white line, and I need that now."