Shrewsbury head coach Gareth Ainsworth believes there is going to be a fear factor about taking his side on now after they won 2-1 at Rotherham.
All the action took place in the second half of the Sky Bet League One contest, with Shrewsbury twice taking the lead and then sternly hanging onto it.
Taylor Perry put them in front when he poked in after John Marquis’ shot had been parried by Dillon Phillips.
Rotherham levelled through Hakeem Odoffin’s powerful header but their celebrations were cut short when Perry rampaged down the left from the restart and crossed for Marquis to smash in.
It is the first time the Shrews have enjoyed back-to-back wins in two years and Ainsworth’s side are now just four points from safety.
He has noted huge improvements since he took over in November and says the players are gaining belief that they will be able to avoid the drop.
Ainsworth said: “The actions always speak louder. The players and the fans, everyone’s buying in at the moment and we’re a dangerous team to play at the moment.
“We might not be in the greatest position in the table but look at what we’re reeling in.
“I think there’s some teams fearful of playing Shrewsbury now, which is brilliant. That is what I wanted to do when I came here.
“I wanted Shrewsbury to be a tough place to come and get away wins.
“The boys are surprising me and I see them in training every day. They were fantastic.
“The attitude in the dressing room afterwards is one of ‘we can do this’. I can’t thank the boys enough for their efforts.”
Rotherham boss Steve Evans bemoaned his side’s bad defending and said: “I think we knew how the game was going to pan out.
“There’s going to be no tempo to the game. Everything takes five minutes, throw-ins, goal-kicks and they just play on the counter.
“Obviously they have got two goals from this.
“We gave them an opportunity to score through bad defending and then it’s bad defending from two or three players collectively which leads to them getting the winner.
“The second was a shocking goal with shocking bad defending.
“Then we huffed and puffed and did everything but score.
“The boys gave everything for the cause but it wasn’t to be.”
Both managers praised Shrewsbury goalkeeper Jamal Blackman for denying Jordan Hugill with a stunning save at 1-0.
Evans said: “We were unlucky not to score. It’s a fantastic save.”
Ainsworth added: “That is one of the best saves you’ll see this season, without a shadow of a doubt.
“If that’s in the Premier League it’s being shown hour after hour and hopefully he will get credit for that.”
