David Artell complains about ‘three big decisions’ as Grimsby draw at Shrewsbury

Grimsby boss David Artell felt referee Sam Mulhall got the big decisions wrong in his side’s 1-1 draw at Shrewsbury.

The Mariners took the lead through Charles Vernam’s penalty, but Artell was adamant they should have had an earlier spot-kick when Jaze Kabia went down in the box.

Artell also felt George Lloyd should have been sent off for a “deliberate elbow” on Cam McJannet.

The frustrated boss said: “I don’t think I’d ever settle for a point.

“I don’t think we played particularly well, but I think we should be stood here with three points.

“It’s not as well as wee have played recently, but we still did enough to win the game.

“We’ve got to become more ruthless and get more of an edge to us. We need to win that game 1-0 or 2-1.

“They’ve had one shot on target and got a point. They’re no mugs at home, but we need to win that game.

“We had two stonewall penalties and only one given. I’m not going to criticise referees because it’s a tough job. But we only got one big decision when we should have had two.

“Actually it’s three big decisions. Their striker should have been sent off for a deliberate elbow. Cam McJannet’s face is in a terrible state. Again, I’m not going to talk about referees.”

Michael Appleton’s Shrews made it five straight home games without defeat after captain John Marquis’ header forced a sharing of the spoils.

He said: “The elements didn’t help the game with the wind.

“It was a fairish point. It wasn’t the greatest game from a quality point of view, but I put that down to conditions.

“I’m a little bit frustrated and disappointed with the way we went behind with the penalty.

“I thought he probably caved in with the pressure from what they thought was a penalty before that.

“We responded quite well, scored a decent goal.

“We were limited with what we could do in terms of numbers and I thought you could tell.

“The one real bit of quality was the level of the cross and the ability to bury the header the way he did.

“I am mindful the players got back after 1am on Sunday morning. The turnaround was pretty quick. We played pretty late Saturday night and went to extra time.

“We had a lot of minutes in the legs for a lot of them so to have to go out there and do it again is every credit to them.

“I certainly wouldn’t have wanted to make that excuse before the game, but it has a part to play in what happened tonight.”