Graham Turner's thoughts after the 2-1 defeat away to Yeovil
Graham Turner was naturally disappointed to be speaking to the press on the back of a 2-1 defeat against promotion hopefuls Yeovil Town this afternoon. All the goals were scored in the first half with Steve McGinn cancelling out James Hayter's early pen for the hosts, but Paddy Madden's 25 yarder proved decisive and Town still have a little bit of work to do to ensure First Division survival.
Graham began his assessment by talking about the controversy surrounding that penalty award and was clearly unhappy at the referee's decision: “I thought we started the game ever so well but the referee awarded a penalty that surprised everybody – I don't even think any of their players appealed for it,” he said. “I think we were shocked with the decision but there's a little bit of previous with the referee as he sent off Dave McAllister in the Doncaster gave which he got wrong. I don't think anybody could believe the decision he gave. If a ball's fired in or headed against a hand when you're only a foot or two away, there's no chance of being able to pull your hand away. That settled them down but I thought in the second half we had a really good go at them and passed the ball about well. We perhaps didn't take our opportunities when we had some shooting opportunities and there were some very good crosses going in that we were a fraction away from so we can take plenty of positives from the levels of that second half performance when we had them on the back foot and caused them some anxious moments.
“We worked the ball into some good positions on several occasions and we should have done better. We should have done better even before their penalty when Jon Taylor had a good chance , but I thought we took our foot off the gas after we equalised instead of taking the initiative and as a result, that allowed them too much possession.”
Turner admitted that he introduced Rob Purdie at half time as a direct replacement for James Hurst because the right back had “had a tough time in the first half” indicating that the change was entirely tactical.
Defeats for Oldham and Scunthorpe made the defeat a little easier to take for the Shrews boss who cited the Oldham versus Yeovil fixture this Tuesday evening as one he had more than a passing interest in: “We're looking to get over 50 points because the last 10 year record tells you that an average of 49 has been enough to ensure survival save for one or two occasions where goal difference has played a part. With our goal difference I think 50 should make us safe but 51 will be the target.”
The manager concluded the piece with some bad news on the injury front. It's thought that Darren Jones will requires surgery on his damaged shoulder and that the central defender could miss up to five months as a consequence.