Paul Hurst: Shrewsbury Town were the better side in FA Cup loss
Shrewsbury Town boss Paul Hurst revealed that the better side went out of the FA Cup after late heartbreak saw Fleetwood Town progress to the third round.
Ash Hunter struck five minutes into added time to seal a two-goal comeback in Salop's third meeting with the Cod Army in under a month.
Goals from Jim O'Brien and Louis Dodds had earned Shrewsbury a two-goal lead on the hour mark but the visitors had skipper Adam El-Abd sent off just after the break.
"Maybe it wasn't meant to be - if you look at the tie over the two games, the best side has gone out of the competition," said Hurst.
"It's a strange one. Like Sheffield United where we were 10 men, the first-half is the best we've played since I've come in - they were outstanding. If we do anything like that then we'll be OK.
"That's really for me set a standard now.
"I was pleased in some ways and annoyed in others but not the same annoyance that I had the last time we were here (3-0 league defeat a fortnight ago)."
Hurst had no complaints with El-Abd's dismissal, the captain's second red card of the season. Dodds struck his second in two games to double Shrewsbury's lead and have their fans singing 'Que Sera'.
But Uwe Rosler's Fleetwood hauled themselves back in it on 63 minutes and were level with 13 minutes to go before the 95th minute winner broke Town hearts.
Fleetwood's first goal was the first Salop had conceded in 350 minutes of football after three consecutive league clean sheets.
Hurst added: "It looked a sending off, there are no qualms on that. We knew there'd be a reaction at the start of the second-half, they threw Holloway on and went more direct.
"It was a period we needed to get through, we didn't manage that but albeit we scored a good goal to go 2-0 up.
"I always thought it was far from over because they had a number of attacking players on the pitch. It's always difficult with 10 men, sometimes you can see it through but we couldn't.
"I don't think we were overwhelmed. Far from it, we'll have to look back at the first goal, we could've done better but the last one, we're trying to attack and win the game.
"The lads deserved that at an absolute minimum with the effort they put in."
