Gaffer's thoughts after the narrow 2-1 defeat at Posh
Shrewsbury Town boss Paul Hurst questioned the decision to send off Stephen Humphrys as Town lost 2-1 to Peterborough.Humphrys had put Town in front from the penalty spot, but the Fulham man was controversially sent off early in the second half.
Peterborough went onto score twice in the final 20 minutes, ending Town’s six match unbeaten run and Hurst was disappointed at the final whistle.
“I don’t like losing games, it’s the first loss in a while, so naturally I’m not pleased with that”, said Paul.
“What annoys me is you have a fourth official who says that you can speak to him, but you ask him a question and he knows what the answer is and all of a sudden they lose their memory and they’re not willing to have a conversation with you.
“Did Stephen put himself in a bit of a position? Yes, I’m not going to deny that, but at the same time I’ve seen it happen where a lad blatantly kicks the ball at a player and the referee says play on, so with the ruling I’m not so sure.
“Because he wasn’t trying to pass it to a player, he was trying to get the lad sent off and he’s succeeded.”
Paul admitted that Peterborough may have gone onto win the game anyway, but rued Town’s luck as another decision went against them away from home.
“In fairness to Peterborough the way that they play makes things very difficult”, said Hurst.
“They have some very good attacking players, they make the pitch very big and they caused us problems.
“They started the game very well, we started a bit slowly, but as it went on I felt we always looked a threat, particularly down the right hand side and then got ourselves in front with the handball.
“They might have gone on and won the game anyway, but it’s another occasion like Sheffield United and the decision at Bolton.
“Playing against that Peterborough team the last thing you need is to be a man light because in fairness to them they started playing with width and they’ve got some very good attacking players. I guess the only frustration is that it is two set plays.”
Paul however was quick to praise his players’ efforts despite the unbeaten run coming to an end.
“It’s not the best night for us, but I’m not going to be too critical of the team with efforts they’ve put in”, Paul said.
“They’ve come here and were still very much in the game again. I think we’ve had one game where we weren’t within a goal and that was the fear tonight, when we went down to ten men that we might get blown away.”