Gaffer reflects on Rochdale result
Shrewsbury Town boss Paul Hurst was frustrated after Town had been beaten 3-1 in controversial fashion by Rochdale.
Town took the lead early on but the game had numerous twists and turns from then on, including an injury to Toto Nsiala and a controversial penalty incident.
“We lost the game so naturally I’m unhappy”, said Hurst.
“I’m unhappy with the ending, we didn’t have the bit of luck that we need at times, we hit the woodwork, we’ve had a penalty given that’s then been overturned and we lost Toto as well, so it’s not been a good day at all.
“It’s a good finish from Nathan. He’s direct and we know he’s got a good left-foot, and it got us off to an ideal start.
“(Toto) He’s gone to hospital to have X-Rays. I think his spine’s been cleared, which is good news, but we will find out more very shortly.”
The big decision came late on when Jon Nolan appeared to be pushed in the box and the referee pointed to the spot, only to be overruled by the linesman. Paul was really disappointed with how the decision was changed.
“There’s so many things wrong with it”, explained Hurst.
“We’ve been pulled up for surrounding officials, so it will be interesting to see what the outcome of that is. The referee is far closer to the incident and he has a better view than the assistant referee who’s given it.
“He says he’s in line but he’s clearly not in line, he’s on the edge of the box. He’s then got a defender in his eye line to be able to give it, so I really don’t understand what’s gone off.
“He can’t change his mind. We had exactly the same here last year when an Assistant Referee had a nightmare and we’ve had exactly the same again.
“There lad does head the ball, but he’s the wrong side of Nolo and to head the ball he has to make contact with Nolo. It looked more like a penalty on the screen than I thought at the time, but once he gives it it makes a farce of what the FA want to do in terms of players surrounding the referee.
“No doubt he (the referee) will come up with some excuse that I’m not interested in, but once he has given the penalty there is no way in a million years he should change his mind.”