Mellon full of festive cheer

Town took over at the top of League Two from Wycombe, who they face next.

James Collins' 11th goal of the season in the 13th minute, and a far-post header from Mark Ellis in the 18th minute, gave the Shrews an early 2-0 lead.

And they were barely troubled after that, cruising to a comfortable win which might have been more emphatic had they converted further good chances.

Mellon said: "We're delighted to be top, of course, though we won't get carried away by it, because there are an awful lot of points to play for.

"It was the manner of the performance that was so satisfying, though. It was like the perfect late Christmas present.

"To put in a performance like that at a place that's never easy to come to, and against a team that has been putting decent results together, is very pleasing.

"We came out of the traps very, very quickly and I do believe that the sacrifices we made on Christmas Day, by coming in and training, paid off.

"Mark Ellis is so good in the air and when the ball goes into either box, you know he will represent you properly.

"In the second half we saw it through, we knew we didn't have to get a third goal to win the game.

"If I'm being picky, we could probably have had a couple more goals with one against the bar, and other chances, but to get a 2-0 win and a clean sheet is great.

"It's nice to be top but we've now got a tough game against Wycombe. Those are the kinds of games you want to be involved in, top versus second, and there's a massive three points at stake."

Collins' opening goal came after his namesake, Oxford's Michael Collins, miscontrolled the ball near the centre circle.

A swift series of passes led to Scott Vernon crossing from the left, for Collins to sidefoot home unmarked.

Liam Lawrence crossed from the left soon after for Ellis to rise at the back post to head firmly past goalkeeper Ryan Clarke.

Shrewsbury missed other opportunities with Nathan Knight-Percival heading against the bar early in the second half.

Oxford were totally outplayed, but U's head coach Michael Appleton believed that was more down to how well Shrewsbury played on the day.

He also lamented the loss of Jon Meades after just 17 minutes of his home debut with a suspected broken nose, and Joe Riley to a tight hamstring.

"You don't expect to lose both your full-backs in a game," Appleton said.

"But sometimes you've got to just give credit to the opposition and they were the better side, simple as that. They scored two decent goals and the front two did really well for them.

"It's no coincidence Shrewsbury have more points than us. You could tell, especially in the forward part of their play, what a good side they are.

"From my point of view, it was good to get James Roberts back on the field after his injury, and we will have learned a lot from this day.

"You learn more in defeat than in victory, generally, and it was a good learning experience, because we can use it as a motivation for our players, and learn about things we need to do differently.

"They stopped us playing in a certain way and when you get your noses in front, playing as they did, it's then very hard to counter that.

"To lose the second goal as we did...that was the killer goal for us.

"But I don't want to be over-critical of my players, because I just thought it was more about how good the opposition were."