‘Farcical’: Gavin Cowan fumes at Sam Stubbs red card in Shrewsbury Town win

Boss Gavin Cowan blasted Sam Stubbs’ red card for Shrewsbury Town as “farcical”.

Stubbs was shown a second yellow card for a firm tackle in the second half of Shrewsbury’s season-opening victory at Salford City in the Carabao Cup.

Cowan made clear his disagreement with the decision, but the club will be unable to appeal the decision with individual yellow cards or a dismissal resulting from two yellow cards in a match unable to be overturned in the English Football League

The Salop boss said: “The first one was farcical. The first yellow card is absolutely the case - I think the lad gets the better of him and he pulls him back.

“The second one, I’m fortunate to be quite close to it, and it’s a clear tackle. Then we get the benefit of seeing it on our iPad, in game, in real time. It’s an excellent tackle.

“It’s a really poor decision from a referee who I felt was quite poor for us on the day.

“I’m after consistency. I’m not saying it’s an intentional thing. Some of my players’ imaginations are running wild with conspiracy theories around where we are and who we’re playing against. I’m trying to curb that and just make us accountable, but it’s hard to curb their thought process when you’re seeing for yourself some of the decisions that were made today.

“Really, I hope that’s not going to be setting the tone for the season. I do worry about all of the rule changes and sometimes complicating the situation.

“Being at the EFL annual managers’ meeting recently, I think the general consensus is it’s just being overcomplicated. Football’s a simple game and it’s certainly changed a lot since I was a boy.”

Late in the enthralling first-round tie, which Shrewsbury won 4-3 on penalties following a 1-1 draw, Salford defender Will Aimson was also sent off following an altercation with members of the Shrewsbury bench, including assistant Dave Edwards.

“I just thought it was like a pantomime,” Cowan continued.

“The ball’s come into our area. One of our lads might have strategically pushed it onto the pitch. They’re saying they didn’t, but I understand from Salford’s perspective.

“The lad then just throws the ball straight at one of the lads in our dugout and hits him in the face. You can’t do it, it’s violent conduct.

“I don’t want to comment too much on the opposition. I think they’re an excellent team, they’ve got excellent players.

“They’re favourites for the league and in moments in the game you can really understand why. I just felt like we tactically got it right, the lads carried it out brilliantly.”