Toto Nsiala: Shrewsbury Wembley anger will spur us on

A goal from Elliott Whitehouse saw League Two Lincoln triumph against Paul Hurst’s side at Wembley yesterday.

The loss was a bitter pill to swallow for Salop’s players with referee Gavin Ward making a number of big calls that all seemed to go against them.

And after watching the Imps lift the trophy, Nsiala said the team are now even more determined to win promotion to the Championship.

“We are gutted,” the commanding centre-back said. “But sometimes things like this turn out to be the best thing. It has made us angry and more hungry for success. Watching them lift the trophy was hard. But they deserve it. We have got to lift ourselves and go again now starting on Thursday against Bradford.

“There have been other games this season that haven’t gone our way but we have always reacted well.

“The spirit is strong to lift ourselves again. Of course, we will talk about Wembley but we will put this behind us and respond in the right way.”

Nsiala was at Grimsby under Paul Hurst when they lost the FA Trophy at Wembley but got promoted from the Conference the same season.

And he is now hoping the same thing will happen at Town.

“The same thing happened with me when I was with the gaffer a few years ago,” the 26-year-old continued.

“We lost the Cup but got promoted. It happens. We are going to lift ourselves and go again.”

Shrewsbury saw a number of key decisions go against them at Wembley with Lincoln’s Matt Rhead escaping with just a yellow card after intentionally forcing his arm into the face of keeper Dean Henderson.

Luke Waterfall also appeared to handle a James Bolton strike on goal, an incident Nsiala saw first-hand.

And the former Everton youngster was not impressed with the officials.

“It was absolutely embarrassing,” he said.

“Both the handball and the incident with Deano and some of other fouls as well. Some of the decisions the referee gave, it was like I couldn’t compete for header.

“There were a couple of times when I just jumped higher and on one of those I got booked.

“Some referees can deal with the occasion but I don’t think the referee did himself justice.”

Nsiala began the game wearing a face mask after he broke his cheek bone in the defeat at Rochdale on Good Friday. But he revealed he had to remove the it during the game as it started to hamper his vision.

“The mask, in training on Saturday, it cracked and one of the strings came out.

“Every time I went to head the ball it was lifting up,” he added.

“I couldn’t see because it was going in my eyes so I just had to take it off and take a risk. If I got a whack again that’s the way it goes.”