'Bit of belief & confidence back' - Appleton

Shrewsbury Town manager Michael Appleton says the team has "a bit of belief and confidence" after securing back-to-back wins for the first time since February.

Satuday's 1-0 victory over Crawley Town took them three points clear of the League Two relegations places.

"We defended when we had to defend. We put bodies on the line," Appleton told BBC Radio Shropshire.

"That's three clean sheets now, something to be proud of, and something to work on going forward.

"Scoring the first goal in any game, you give yourself a great chance of winning. We've scored the first goal again, and it gives you something to hold onto."

Boyle and Clucas combine again

For the second successive match, defender Will Boyle was on the scoresheet with a header from a Sam Clucas corner.

"I think I touched on it before the (Cambridge) game, I was a bit annoyed and did reference that we should be doing better from set-plays," Appleton added.

Apppleton has endured a tough start since taking charge in March, which included relegation from League One.

"We've changed the shape over the last few weeks which has helped us," he added.

"We've got more bodies in the middle of the park, which has allowed us to defend from the front a little bit better."

The 49-year-old said it had been nice to celebrate in front of the home fans for two weeks in a row.

"I'm one of the worst for it, really, in terms of switching onto the next game already, and probably not enjoying the moment as long as I should," Appleton said.

"I've just been in it so long that football has a great way of slapping you in the face.

"We've had some challenging times. I did say its going to take a massive momentum shift to turn this round, 18 months where it's been difficult.

"We have to somehow change that mentality. We are slowly but surely doing that."