Alex Bruce in referee blast after Rotherham United comeback
"I can say I was disappointed. It has to be better."
Angry boss Alex Bruce pointed the finger at the referee after watching his 10-man side fight back to earn a 3-3 draw in a thrilling League Two clash at rain-lashed AESSEAL New York Stadium today.
The Millers showed character to come back from adversity and make sure they stayed away from the drop zone.
But the clash was marred by an inept display from Derbyshire man in the middle James Oldham who sent off Rotherham's Kian Spence when the home team were 2-0 in front and dismissed Shrewsbury Town's Kian McMahon-Brown after Bruce's men had gone 3-2 down and then shown the resilience to grab an equaliser.
The head coach chose his words carefully as he said: "To be honest, I thought the standard of the refereeing was below par. I didn't think either of the red cards on show needed to be red cards."
Spence was given his marching orders for a first-half challenge on Will Gray while McMahon-Brown walked for a shove on Joe Rafferty.
"The referee made the decision to send Kian off," said Bruce. "When you watch it back, he's gone to the ground and he's looked to swipe the ball because it's bouncing. He's mistimed it and he's caught the lad.
"That happens, especially in conditions like that, when it's really wet and slippy. You get the odd mistimed challenge. Does it need to be a red card? I'm not so sure. Theirs as well ... it was a push on Raffs. We want to see 11-11, don't we?
"When you take into consideration that their third goal is clearly offside when the lad flicks it on to the boy at the far post, I can say I was disappointed with the referee. It has to be better.
Rotherham led through a Paul Mullin double and the Shrews pulled back a goal immediately after Spence's dismissal through Josh Davison.
Two more followed after the interval, with Josh Ruffels and Will Boyle both heading in at the back post, before substitute Tom Bradshaw's header levelled the scores for the Millers while Town still had 11 men on the pitch.
"I think the supporters got the money's worth, didn't they?" said Bruce. "I'm sure for the neutral it was a good afternoon's watch.
"I thought we started the game very well, going two goals up. Then, obviously, when we get the sending-off and concede straight afterwards, you think: 'Oh, my God, 75 minutes with 10 against 11. It's going to be a long afternoon.'"
Shrews manager Gavin Cowan had mixed emotions.
“I’m really proud of the players after the start we had,” he said. “It was really disappointing to be two goals down. It was individual errors and players making poor decisions.
“The red card ensues and we were right in the ascendancy with the goal just before half-time. The second half was just about patience and playing our patterns and not chasing after everything.
“You go 3-2 up and you think it’s going to be a positive day, but we were a bit naive. We could have won the game, but we decided to play backwards and it changed the momentum of the game.”