'We need the referees to learn' - Shrewsbury boss

Shrewsbury Town boss Gavin Cowan has called on match officials to learn more about "football behaviour" after his side's defeat on Saturday.

Cowan was frustrated at the lack of action taken against Cheltenham's game management in the Shrews' 2-0 home defeat.

It was just a second defeat in eight matches for Shrewsbury and came after Cowan won the League Two Manager of the Month for picking up five wins from six in February.

"Cheltenham were really excellent at handling the momentum of the game today, very slow to pick up the ball - very slow to walk for goal kicks," he told BBC Radio Shropshire.

"They were taking their time, staying down that little bit longer, and credit to them.

"But you need strong officials there. I know we're not going to get every call, but I think our fans felt the frustration as well; certainly on our bench we were asking the fourth official, who didn't seem to be interested in the momentum.

"I think I predicted in the first 10 minutes, 'You'll wait until 90 minutes, and then you'll book the keeper', and lo and behold, that's what happens.

"We just need the referees to learn a little bit more now about, I call it, 'football behaviour'. They've got to understand it that little bit better."

Despite his frustrations, Cowan believed his side got what they deserved as they slipped to successive home defeats.

Yet the Shrews remain 12 points clear of the relegation places in 18th with just nine games to go after their upturn in form under the former Brackley boss and are eyeing a mid-table finish.

"Although we felt the officials were particularly poor today, it's important to recognise that we were also second-best, we need to be better," Cowan said.

"Our fundamentals were missing today. We feel that a couple of big moments in the game that didn't go our way and then you're on the end of a defeat.

"We were far too deep in defence, then we struggled on second balls and we certainly didn't set the tone at any point in the game."

On Tuesday, Shrewsbury head to Bristol Rovers, who sit a place below in 19th, for a 19:45 GMT kick-off.