Paul Hurst bemoans Shrewsbury Town's bad luck in relegation scrap
Paul Hurst refused to knock his team's commitment and pleaded for decisions to even out as Shrewsbury dropped into the relegation places.
Town's 2-0 reversal at Bristol Rovers continued their untimely slip and dropped them back into the bottom four for the first time since January 20, but they head straight back into the line of fire with Millwall's visit to Greenhous Meadow tomorrow night.
The trip to the Memorial Ground was marred by contentious refereeing decisions by Brett Huxtable, and Hurst was left bemoaning his luck at full-time as Ryan Yates' dismissal was followed by a soft penalty call for the hosts to break the deadlock.
Shrews, now winless in five and on the back of three straight defeats, couldn't have put any more effort in, according to Hurst, who wants his team to start feeling the rub of the green.
"I can't fault the lads' efforts," said the boss. "I'm the first that'll be harsh on them if I think they'll deserve it but if any fan that went thinks the lads didn't put a shift in I'd argue that all day.
"But I don't think the crowd thought that in truth, they clapped the lads at the end and I know where their frustration will be, and it won't be at someone in a Shrewsbury Town shirt.
"I think we (also) competed when it was 11 v 10. They didn't cut us open."
Hurst added: "I can't really remember, and I'm not trying to be bias, where we've come away and thought 'we've got away with that', or 'that was an awful decision to send a player off and give a goal (for us)'.
"You do feel a little bit helpless. It's very difficult to know what to say to them other than I thought they competed.
"We can't think too much more about it. It's more about trying to get recovered ready for a big effort tomorrow."
Hurst partnered Tyler Roberts and Louis Dodds in attack for the first time, but both were substituted at half-time following Yates' dismissal.
And he foresaw changes for play-off chasing Millwall's visit.
He said: "I looked it at and there haven't been that many changes. Most have stayed in there and there's been (just) two or three changes in general.
"There'll be changes because they've just played a tough game, we've got a person suspended and I think we'll need to freshen it up."
