Robbie Simpson’s disallowed goal at Bournemouth last Saturday was a hard pill to swallow for the Latics and their 262 fans that made the long journey south to watch the game. Even so, Athletic manager Paul Dickov took the positives from the game and was delighted with his teams first clean sheet in eight matches and with the fact that they brought a point home.
Dickov said, “I couldn’t see it from where I was but our players’ reactions and even their players coming off at half-time said it was over the line. The referee is close to it and he is looking at the linesman. The big decisions should be right in football matches and looking at it, we should be talking about a 1-0 victory.”
“It is 2011, nearly 2012, and we can’t have anything which tells us if the ball is over the line or not, regardless of whether the referee sees it. It is crazy. We got a clean sheet and defensively, we looked ever so strong which hasn’t been the case recently. At the same time, we have been banging the goals away for fun and that didn’t quite happen for us. Keeping a clean sheet and gaining a point isn’t a bad result, but I am disappointed with it as I want to try to win every game. Our shape made it difficult for them to get going. It is a tough place to come to, especially when the crowd gets going and they get their tails up. We stood strong and it was a very disciplined performance. They started a bit more brightly than we did. We got that sorted and then looked ever so solid. Apart from the one shot they had at the end I thought if one team was going to win, it would be us.”
A football phone-in on Radio Solent after the game confimed that the goal should have stood as many of the Cherries fans were phoning in to admit that the ball had crossed the line. Football's a funny old game!