ANTH Lormor has revealed he is gutted that his loan move to Shrewsbury Town has come to an end.

The Hartlepool United striker, who returned to the North-East after a one-month spell this week, scored two goals in seven starts at Gay Meadow.

And Lormor insists he would have loved to have remained with Kevin Ratcliffe's side and helped Shrewsbury's promotion push.

"I have to say I feel closer to them than I do Hartlepool at the moment," said 31-year-old Lormor, who was refused permission from Pool manager Chris Turner to stay at the Shrews for another month.

"Shrewsbury have got a massive game at Rushden on Saturday - I just wish I was involved.

"I'm hugely disappointed that my loan spell was not extended but that's football. You have to take the rough with the smooth.

"I was asked to stay for another month and I would have loved to. I was really enjoying my time at the Meadow and to leave a side pushing for promotion to return to reserve team football is disappointing. It's the time of the season which footballers all look forward to as there is so much at stake.

"Even though I've gone, I'll be glued to the results and keeping an eye on how Shrewsbury are doing."

Since returning to the Victoria Park club, Lormor failed to make the bench in Pool's reserves' win over Halifax Town on Wednesday and he did not travel to Carlisle for the first team's Third Division game on Tuesday.

The much-travelled centre-forward knows that his time in Turner's squad is likely to come to an end when the current campaign closes.

The £20,000 capture from Mansfield in August 2000 impressed during his time at Shrewsbury and he is hopeful that he has done enough to persuade other clubs to come in for him before this Thursday's transfer deadline.

"It's really whetted my appetite to get out and play again," said Lormor, who has made 26 starts for Turner. "I didn't expect to play for the rest of the season so the past month was great.

"I think I did my chances of a move some good . I'll just have to wait and see if the phone rings."

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