Sam Ricketts questions disallowed goals after his Shrewsbury side let lead slip

Posted Wednesday, November 25, 2020 by PA

Shrewsbury boss Sam Ricketts was seething with the performance of the officials after his struggling side surrendered a two-goal advantage to draw 2-2 at MK Dons.

The visitors – who arrived in Buckinghamshire on the back of a seven-game winless run in League One – took the lead within the first minute through Shaun Whalley.

Marc Pugh then doubled Shrewsbury’s advantage four minutes after the interval to instigate hopes of a rare win, but substitute Carlton Morris and veteran forward Cameron Jerome netted as the hosts took a share of the spoils.

And Ricketts was furious after seeing three points turn into one, pointing at the officials as the reason for their shortfall and imploring them to explain their decisions.

“I’d like the referee to come out and speak,” the 39-year-old said. “We’ve had two goals disallowed which were well onside. As much as we get frustrated with ourselves, if they’re going to give decisions like that then it’s going to be hard to win any game.

“Going 2-0 up we were excellent and it should have been more. We just don’t seem to be getting the decisions. I think the referees should have to come out and account for themselves.

“We were very good until we gave them a poor goal which gave them hope. They played with nothing to lose and they were very expansive, but their second goal was offside.

“I’m proud of the players and I know they’re capable of getting results as soon as things and decisions start going in our favour.”

MK Dons boss Russell Martin showered praise on his players for the way they fought back to take something from the game after a bad start.

He said: “I’m really proud. The energy and conviction they showed was really pleasing and if the game had gone on a little bit longer, I think we would have gone on to win the game.

“We all know that the first half wasn’t up to our usual standards, and we usually start well after half-time so when they scored I felt sick.

“I was never going to give up hope in this group though and credit to the players for pulling it back. It was a big mentality to come back into the game but we shouldn’t have to dig that deep so often.”