Shrewsbury win was a long time coming - Appleton

Michael Appleton joined Shrewsbury as head coach in March

Shrewsbury Town boss Michael Appleton was pleased to repay the patience of supporters with a first home league win since February.

Salop beat Cambridge United 2-0 on Saturday to end a 14-match winless league run at the Croud Meadow.

After defeating Mansfield 2-1 on 1 February, Shrewsbury picked up just one point from their final nine home games last season on their way to relegation, and had lost three of their opening five this term.

"Performance-wise, there's only been a couple of occasions when I've been disappointed and the fans in that period have been really patient and stuck with the team," Appleton told BBC Radio Shropshire.

"We've lost a couple of games here lately where they've stayed behind at the end and clapped the team because they've seen the effort the team have put in, and we've been able to repay them today. I want to do it again next week.

"They need to see us leaving everything out on the pitch and we did that today. It was great and a long time coming."

Despite heavy recruitment over the summer, Appleton's side made a poor start to life in League Two, taking a single point from their opening five matches.

There also remains uncertainty off the pitch with a second takeover bid collapsing last month.

But a second win of the season on Saturday, and back-to-back clean sheets, helped lift them out of the relegation spots for the first time since 20 August.

They are now a point outside of the bottom two in 22nd, level on points with 21st-placed Crawley, who they host on Saturday.

"I'm hoping that's a big thing for the players," Appleton added.

"Obviously it's still very early days, but the way the season started with those first five games, clearly it put ourselves in a difficult position.

"I don't know what we're playing catch up for in terms of a target, but every point from now on is going to be crucial. That was a good three points today and we need to back it up next week."