Michael Appleton fumes at ‘unfair’ stoppage-time penalty decision in defeat to Cambridge

Michael Appleton fumes at an ‘unfair’ stoppage-time penalty decision in Shrewsbury’s 1-0 defeat to Cambridge on Tuesday night.

Ben Knight netted a 91st minute spot kick, sending the keeper the wrong way, after Luca Hoole was deemed to have handled a cross.

The result sees Salop without an away win since early September, picking up a fourth consecutive away defeat and sit two points clear of the League Two relegation zone.

Admin this is a shocking comment, we seem to have been playing for a 0-0 draw and were by far the worst team on the pitch, not cruel at all

— Ryan (@shrewsryann) January 27, 2026

Appleton said, per Shropshire Star: “I am really frustrated. I feel for the players, I feel for the fans who have turned up tonight.

“Disappointed to lose a game of football in any way, but the manner in which we lost the game seems a bit unfair.

“I am going to try and say as little as I can, but the reality is, it is not a penalty.

“He has slid in to make the block, the ball has hit his hand of course, but what is he supposed to do.

“What is he supposed to do? Slide in and put his hands by his side?

“I thought performance wise it was a battling one. There was a lot of energy to it.

“We had good structure and we frustrated them. You could tell and sense it in the crowd as well.

“The back line kept a high line, the distances between the midfield and the strikers was good.

“It looked really comfortable, certainly keeping a clean sheet, and you never know with a bit of quality, we might have nicked it.

“But, not at any point do I think we didn’t deserve a point, and they would probably admit to that as well.”

It comes days after Appleton said following a 5-1 defeat at MK Dons: “It is. It is very strange and different to what I have been used to throughout my career as a manager.

“My away record has been pretty good to be fair, if not better than my home record, so work that one out.

“We have to address it and be better and we have an opportunity to do that at Cambridge.

“When we lose, we lose, and that has to stop very quickly.

“You can go a goal behind early in any game of football, but you can give yourself a chance by staying in the game.

“To concede the second in the way we did was frustrating, but we can’t give the opposition the chance to do that.”

Appleton said pressure on him had increased: “I have said it a million times already, the reality is in every single game there is pressure. If you lose 5-1, then of course, yes.”

Here’s how fans reacted while Michael Appleton fumes at ‘unfair’ stoppage-time penalty decision in defeat to Cambridge…

@oliverhowells5: You know what is cruel. Watching us play for 90mins and having to pay for it. You are all 🐕 #Rolandout #salop

@markjones53: Oh fuck off will you. Defended well in the main I agree but didnt get over the half way line all fucking night.

@irishwolf99: You simply have to make a change in management. Knew when we beat you 6-1 that you guys were in a bad way, but it’s ridiculous you’re at risk of a double-dip. Get rid of Appleton ASAP. Someone like a Darrell Clarke such an obvious solution. But you have to change something

@Jacob__JOW: Admin, don’t lower yourself to the standard of the chairman and gaffa by saying football is a cruel game. Have some self reflection and realise the club and team only have themselves to blame‼️

@KB79YO13: You make your own luck. We deserved nothing. Didnt work their GK all night. Next season we could be playing Telford in the league. Let that sink in a minute .

@luke_STFC18: No football isn’t a cruel game, this was brought upon ourselves, Roland sell up this team will not move forward with you at the helm and get rid of Appleton asap, clearly no coaching going on, conceding a last min pen is unforgivable, this team are just full of overpaid clowns

@sc0ttlb: How ? We had 0 shots on target. Whats cruel is having to watch Appletons (lack of) tactics every week. Perhaps if we actually put Cambridge under pressure then maybe we would’ve come away with a Point or 3.

@therangarich: Nothing cruel about being shite

@jaredboyle_: What was cruel about that? Clear cut penalty and only one side deserved to win. Embarrassing tactics from Appleton, could’ve at least had a go!

@jamiehall1991: Cruel for a handball that was a handball? Or cruel because you keep putting us through appletons shit!!! Playing clucas right mid when I don’t thing he’s ever played there in his career, get Appleton out now, stop being selfish and making fans pay for his shit managerial style

Shrewsbury Town OSC (Official Supporters Club) Chairman Chris Allen spoke with Adam Green on the BBC Radio Shropshire breakfast show.

Adam Green: “What did you make of it last night?”

Chris Allen: “I think two things. I think, one, I think there’s signs of improvement. I think the new players that are coming in seem to be better than what we’ve got.

“But equally, we’re also running out of time. And I don’t think we had a shot on target last night either. And those are the things that really sort of worry me. If you’re bringing new players in at the start of the season, you’d say, great, they need a bit of time to bed in.

“But as I said, time is running out now and they’ve got to start performing and working as a team really, really quickly. And it is really concerning.”

Interviewer: “What’s the feeling that you get from supporters?”

Chris: “Yeah, everybody’s really anxious. It’s been a really tough watch this year. I know a lot of people that have actually stopped going. And even after last season, I know season ticket holders that didn’t renew.

“And I think that’s the concern because that impacts everything about the club. If people aren’t buying tickets, they’re not going. And if we drop out this year, I mean, we dropped out 20-odd years ago. It was a different time then. I think we had every chance of getting back up.

“I think if we dropped out now, there’s a lot of other clubs down there in the Conference at the moment or National League that have got some financial backing. And I don’t think we’ll find it as easy as we did last time.

“So it’s an absolutely crucial three or four months for the club and the future of the club, I’d say, as well.”

Interviewer: “Yeah, at times it’s looked pretty bleak, hasn’t it? And what about the man in charge, Michael Appleton? Lots of fans not sure about him continuing. How would you see it?”

Chris: “Yeah, I was firmly in the out camp. I probably still am, if I’m honest, my personal opinion. And I think last night might have brought him another game, I think, because there were these slight signs of improvement.

“The players, I think, they seem to be better than what we’ve had. So there’s a lot of anxiety. There’s a lot of angst.

“And I think also when things aren’t going well on the pitch, I think it brings into focus and magnifies a lot of the other parts of the matchday experience, which the supporters are complaining about. So there’s a real sort of groundswell of angst and fans who are getting a bit angry, I would suggest.”

Interviewer: “Yeah, you’re right. It starts on the pitch for any club, doesn’t it? And that good feeling seeps out to other areas and it can go the other way as well. That must be a worrying prospect in the weeks ahead.”

Chris: “Yeah. Oh, definitely. I mean, we’ve seen the signs of a few protests at the moment. Whether last night has put those to a head or the win last weekend, not really. I think the problems are still there. We still can’t really see an element of sort of the way that the team is trying to play, what they’re trying to do. There’s no kind of flowing football. There’s a lot of sort of long ball.

“It’s really frustrating watching the team at the moment. And as I said, something needs to change and it needs to change fast. Whether that’s a new manager, I don’t know. But I think that makes Saturday’s game a must-win. Not even a must-draw. I think we have to win it. I think a draw or a loss, then I think there’s just about enough time for somebody to come in and turn it around and work with these new, better players, I would say.”

Interviewer: “Is there an area that you would want to see another signing come in to improve?”

Chris: “Midfield. Everything needs to revolve around midfield. They’re the ones that can take the play. They can feed the forwards.

“We’ve got some quality forwards, I would say now. But if they don’t get the service, we’re not going to score the goals. We’re not going to get shots on target, as we did last night.

“So I think we’re missing, if you look back the past few years, the John Nolan type of player, the Ryan Woods, Greg Docherty, even when he was here on loan. We need somebody like that, a real quality, ball-winning midfield player to start to bring it all together. We can start to play through.

“So that to me, I think goalkeeper. I think the Cox guy played pretty well last night. I’m interested to see Isaac Lee, the new signing at centre-half. He looks really promising. He’s 6’4″, 6’6”, and got pace. So I think that can solve one of the problems we’ve had with defence, which has been a lack of pace at the back.

“So I think the pieces are there. It’s just getting them all to play together. And whether Michael Appleton is the right man for that, I don’t know.

“We’ll need to see some more improvements Saturday, for me anyway.”

Interviewer: “Finally, Chris, tell us a bit more about the work you do with the Shrewsbury Town Supporters Club.”

Chris: “Yes, it’s the 75th anniversary of the Supporters Club this year. It was formed when we came into the Football League back in the early 50s. And over the previous years, the club’s been looking at some running coaches to away games, and there were already associations of people that were doing that.

“So we’re trying to restructure and reframe what we’re doing with the Supporters Club and make it into a real voice for the supporters, which I think maybe we’ve lost that over the past few years.

“So my goal and the committee’s goal is to get as many members as we can as possible. So we’re looking to restructuring the membership sign-up process. Having to pay a bit of money to get a badge and a card can sometimes put a lot of people off.

“So we’re going to be trying to get almost like a free membership. We want to get numbers. There should be thousands and thousands of members of the Supporters Club.

“And I think over the years that there has been, and we’ve kind of lost that. If we can get up to those sort of numbers, then we can become a real voice of the fans, represent what the fans want to say, what their concerns are. So that’s where we want to go.

“We’ll always try and raise some funds for the club, as we have done. I think in the summer we donated £10,000 towards the new roof on the fan zone.

“And those are the sort of things that we want to support as well, because that helps the club indirectly, and they get more money through the bar because people are in the fan zone, even if the weather’s terrible.

“So those are the kind of initiatives we want to support. But for me, it’s getting numbers. It’s getting membership up into the thousands. And that’s the goal we want to try and achieve this year.”