Joey Barton believes Bristol Rovers "should have won" against Shrewsbury Town as they had to settle for a point in a scrappy encounter at the Mem on Saturday.
The manager said the Gas will look at the 1-1 draw as two points dropped when they reflect on the game as the season goes on.
Shrewsbury were intent on breaking up the game and they found success with their methods, with Rovers failing to find any sort of rhythm until Aaron Collins produced a moment of magic with 24 minutes to play. His spin unlocked a stubborn defence, sliding the ball into Ryan Loft's path and the substitute scored his first home goal for the club with a ruthless finish.
But it was another substitute Ryan who provided the equaliser at the other end, with Ryan Bowman stabbing home from inside the six-yard box in the 80th minute after a succession of corners that the Gas could not clear authoritatively.
Barton said he will take heart from Shrewsbury's tactics, but he accepts Rovers are not "anywhere near" their best form.
"(It was) a game where Shrewsbury set their stall out early and I thought it was a huge compliment to us," Barton said. "Clearly they were nervous in their approach and I felt us the ultimate compliment by playing 5-3-1-1.
"They are a tricky team to play against due to the size that they carry in the set-piece and the long throws coming in from everywhere. They carry a lot of big bodies coming forward.
"I don’t think we were anywhere near our best. A great moment from Aaron Collins to make the goal for Lofty and I thought it was a good finish from Ryan.
"It gets us in the ascendancy and we were guilty of absorbing too much pressure and not clearing our lines and while there was always a chance of getting back in it, they were loading the box and playing no-risk football because they’re chasing the game.
"You’ve got to defend your box better and we didn’t manage to do that.
"We’re gutted we didn’t take maximum points and, for me, it’s another point on the board, it’s another point towards survival and I can’t expect the lads to fire on all cylinders at this moment because we’re a number of bodies short."
The Gas remain 15th in the League One table after the draw, with seven points from their opening six games. Shrewsbury are in 20th with six points.
Barton made clear he was not a fan of opposing manager Steve Cotterill's strategy – which did succeed in stifling Rovers' build-up play and testing their patience – with the numerous elongated breaks in play prompting widespread frustration on the terraces too, but the manager acknowledged that Rovers should have found a way to overcome the challenge.
"That’s part of their strategy and Steve has been coaching for a long time, but I’m not sure I’d come out on a Saturday afternoon if that’s what I was coaching. Stay in the house and watch Liverpool win 9-0 on the telly and watch a creative expression of the game," he said. "I don’t get it, especially as he’s in his 60s, Steve. Is that all you’ve been taught in the game? Is that it?
"But we’ve got to find solutions to break them down and beat them. You don’t get any points for style and we aren’t free-flowing like Barcelona like we were last year at the moment. It’s going to be tricky if teams come in and just camp in their half and they don’t show very much ambition.
"I have to take it as a compliment for our group that they were that fearful of us. If I was going as an established League One club to a newly-promoted club from League Two, I’m telling you I would be taking them on. That’s for Shrewsbury and Steve and that’s probably why they’ve only won six in 20-odd. I don’t think they will get any points for style and you’ve got to remember that players don’t want to play in in that.
"You end up with players who are desperate and they will sign for your club, but I was speaking to Luke Leahy there and I’m like ‘Why don’t you come back and play football?’ He’s a good footballer and he’s playing centre-mid and I never saw him as a centre-mid and I never saw Taylor Moore as a centre-mid, but some of these League One managers are converting centre-halves and left-backs into centre-midfielders.
"Maybe they know something we don’t, but we’ve got to be smarter, bring some players in and we need to create more. We should’ve won that game today and I fancy it is one of the games we will look back at over the course of the season saying we should have taken maximum points."
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