Gavin Cowan fumes and urges Shrewsbury Town to appeal ‘farcical’ Josh Ruffels red card

Cowan blasted the referee’s decision to show Ruffels a 92nd-minute straight red card after he cleared the ball at height with his foot as Walsall’s Jamie Jellis went in for a header.

Salop conceded two set-piece goals to suffer their first defeat under Cowan at the Meadow last Saturday, with their winning streak in League Two coming to an end.

Asked if he believes Shrewsbury should appeal Ruffels’ red card, Cowan said: “Absolutely. I'm guided by the powers that be but, looking back at it, it's a really poor decision. 

“It's whether the FA and the referee have the humility to look back - it's very rare that these get overturned. 

“I think they're loath to do so because then it sets a precedent for everybody to appeal. 

“My suggestion would be that we appeal because it's farcical. It's a farcical decision, as is the penalty (appeal) on Trey.”

He added: “(I was) just shocked like everybody else. It's embarrassing really. 

“He's fully entitled to go for that ball. It's no dangerous play, there's no studs showing.

“The player’s stooped down and it's fair game. You've got to go for the ball and the player has made absolutely the most of it with no mark on his face. 

“I don't want to criticise the Walsall players because they've got a job to do. That's how they see fit to do it. 

“The big centre half at the back there, I'm not sure I'd have fallen down so many times as him. But they've got a job to do.

“They've been on a poor run. Sometimes you've just got to win games. 

“I felt a fair result would be a draw. But the big moments fell to us and we didn't take them.

“The referee's had a particularly poor game and we've been on the wrong end of his particularly poor decisions. 

“But equally there's moments of accountability for us where we know we can be better.”

Shrewsbury entered the clash as the most in-form side across English football’s top four divisions. They remain 11 points clear of the relegation zone.

To compound their misery, Luca Hoole was forced off injured at the end of the first half.

“We need to assess it,” said Cowan. “We don't want to say anything too much.

We're hopeful. But when he's hobbling off, you can't imagine it's going to be any time soon that we'll see him. 

“For Luca to be going down in a game, that showed us there was a concern. 

“To lose him and potentially Ruffels could be a massive blow for us. But, we've got a squad for a reason. The lads have to step up now.