Carlisle United's Paul Simpson reacts to Shrewsbury Town defeat in Carabao Cup first round defeat

But the Blues boss insisted the display of official Christopher Pollard was not the reason his side exited the Carabao Cup.

United’s 3-2 defeat at League One side Shrewsbury Town ended their interest in the League Cup at the first hurdle.

The five-goal encounter saw the Blues take the lead, then come from behind to equalise before Shrewsbury struck a late winner.

READ MORE: Shrewsbury Town v Carlisle United - as it happened

Carlisle were aggrieved at some of Pollard’s calls, such as his decision not to penalise the hosts for a challenge on Fin Back in the build-up to Shrewsbury’s 45th-minute free-kick equaliser from Luke Leahy.

Manager Simpson said: “I was annoyed with it, because unfortunately those sorts of ridiculous decisions cost teams.

“I agree it was a foul on the edge of the box [by us], I don’t have a problem with that, and it’s brilliant execution from their lad to score off it as well.

“But it shouldn’t get there. If the referee has got anything about him, it’s a free-kick [to us]. Even then, if it’s not a free-kick, it’s their player who smashes right through the back of Fin and takes his leg and puts it out for a throw-in.

“It’s just rubbish. I don’t get that sort of thing. But you’ve got to just lift yourselves, there’s no point worrying about it.

“I’ve got to say, I think that was probably one of the poorest refereeing performances I’ve seen for quite a long time.

United captain Corey Whelan protests to ref Chris Pollard

“A lot of decisions I thought were incredible.

“But they’re really struggling for referees at the moment because they’ve all failed their fitness tests, so I would imagine he’ll get a really good game at the weekend again…”

Simpson, though, added: “The poor refereeing isn’t the reason we’ve lost, so let’s forget about it and let him get on with his jolly life after tonight.

“We’ve got to dust ourselves down.”

Ryan Edmondson shot United in front in the 13th minute before Leahy’s free-kick brought Steve Cotterill’s men level.

Daniel Udoh put the Shrews in front with 15 minutes to go only for sub Kristian Dennis to hit his third in three games for Carlisle to make it 2-2.

Chey Dunkley then pounced in the 86th minute to deny United the chance to take the tie to penalties.

Simpson, speaking to BBC Radio Cumbria and the club’s website after the game against his former club, added: “I think it’s been a really good performance.

“We’ve played some very, very good football.

“For long periods we’ve actually dominated the game, created some real good opportunities and scored a couple of really good goals. Sadly we’ve come away with nothing.”

United’s manager admitted he was “very” disappointed to concede the winner from a set-piece.

“One of the things we noticed about Shrewsbury is that they’re quite clever at set plays,” he said. “It was a clever free kick.

“The lad spun off Gibbo [Jordan Gibson], and we don’t expect Jordan to win those sorts of headers, but he competed.

“We always say that sometimes you aren’t going to win the first ball in, so it’s then about the second. The second went across the face of goal and we haven’t reacted quickly enough.

“We had enough bodies in there but we haven’t dealt with it and that is a disappointment. When you’re up against a team that’s quite clever at set plays they catch you out, and that’s what they did to us.”

Simpson made four changes to his side, handing full debuts to Jayden Harris and Sonny Hilton, also bringing in Omari Patrick and Corey Whelan.

The managed added: “I used it to try and get Omari some minutes, to get Sonny and Jayden into the game, and Corey’s come in because of an injury to Morgan Feeney.

“I think they’ve all been excellent, along with the lads who’ve been excellent for us. They’re putting a right shift in for the football club, the team, for each other. And we’ve just got to keep them fresh and ready to go again.”