Grimsby boss Paul Hurst bemoans ‘ridiculous rule’ which led to Tranmere’s opener

Grimsby boss Paul Hurst was left less than impressed with the “ridiculous rule” that saw his side concede the opener in a 2-2 draw at Tranmere.

Donovan Wilson, who collided with Rovers’ goalkeeper Luke McGee, was off the pitch when Kieron Morris opened the scoring for the hosts at Prenton Park.

Danny Rose and Rekeil Pyke had turned the game around before half-time.

Connor Jennings secured caretaker boss Nigel Adkins a fourth point this week just after the hour mark.

“We were down to 10 men for the first goal due to the ridiculous rule that was introduced this season,” moaned Hurst.

“Teams have to try and cope with it, we won’t be the only team punished by it.

“It was two players that have collided and we get punished for that reason. It’s ridiculous.

“Once that happens, we have to be better in tracking the runner which ended up with the goal going in.

“There has to be an element of frustration there with not getting the three points.

“I didn’t feel we had been dominated or outplayed in any way.

“We felt we could go on and win the game, but ultimately we didn’t. We were punished by one of the few attacks that they had.

“But it’s been a really good week for us. We wanted to start an unbeaten run and that’s up to two games now so long may that continue.”

Rovers boss Adkins had mixed emotions after seeing his side go ahead and then forced to come from behind to clinch a point.

“The crowd got right behind the players when we needed it,” said Adkins.

“We went flat after going in front. I was trying to get the crowd going and the super white army saw that and got the lads going.

“We’ve conceded a couple of goals which are frustrating. The first was a deflection, which was a bit of fortune (for them).

“It’s a challenge when you go behind. I challenged them at half-time to go and win it because we’ve not done that in a long, long time.

“We had the right mindset to go and get a point. We competed and changed the formation during the game.

“We had the momentum and what a great goal it was to equalise. What a great header it was.

“I thought ‘here we go’. We had that momentum and it went flat after they made substitutions. We tried to win the game, but it wasn’t to be.”