Paul Hurst rues ‘harsh’ offside call as Shrewsbury lose at Bristol Rovers

Shrewsbury manager Paul Hurst was left baffled by the “extremely harsh” decision to deny his side a late equaliser in the 1-0 defeat to Bristol Rovers at the Memorial Stadium.

Substitute Tom Bloxham was prevented from claiming a dramatic leveller when ex-Rovers striker John Marquis was flagged offside, cutting short his celebrations after his 20-yard effort beat goalkeeper Josh Griffiths.

It was tough on Salop who battled back well after Scottish midfielder Jamie Lindsay put the Gas in command after 52 minutes with a stylish effort from just inside the box.

Hurst said: “It’s a tough one to take but that’s clearly how our luck is going. I’ve talked about luck and people don’t want to believe it.

“We’ve had a couple of recent examples that is it even luck in all honesty or decisions going against us.

“It’s extremely harsh. Over the course of the game I definitely think we should have got something out of the game but the crux of the matter is that we haven’t.”

The result condemned Hurst’s side to a ninth defeat in 13 outings this season and left the Shropshire side third-bottom of the League One table.

He added: “John’s offside as in he’s in an offside position but I’m probably in the same position as lot of people and I don’t understand the rules anymore.

“I’ve seen a goal for Man City at the weekend and in my opinion is that the goal should stand.

“Otherwise, all you’re going to do is get teams and whenever you put one near the keeper they say he’s offside.

“John’s 10 yards out and I’ve seen a picture and he’s nowhere near. I think the keeper apologies for not seeing it and not diving.”

Rovers manager Matt Taylor praised his team after they returned to winning ways after a 3-1 defeat by Huddersfield to move to within three points of the play-off zone.

He said: “It was an important win and a big goal and we should have added to the tally because we had a bit of zip about our attacking play.

“It’s always going to be nervy when it stays at 1-0 and it’s pleasing we’ve seen it through, albeit with a bit of luck and the disallowed goal or sheer stubbornness.

“Judging by the reaction of the players and goalkeeper’s reaction he was left unsighted.

“And if that’s by a Shrewsbury player then he was offside. We deserved a bit of luck if it was luck because we limited the moments around our goal.

“We’ve got out first clean sheet since we beat Cambridge at the end of August and we’ve now won three of our last four league games.”