Robby's reaction: Added time "ridiculous"


Roberto Di Matteo
By Oli
March 1 2009

Dons manager Roberto Di Matteo expressed his disappointment at the nature of Leicester's last minute equaliser, but refused to directly criticise the referee and praised his side's overall performance.

A superb performance from the Dons saw them 2-1 up courtesy of two goals from Peter Leven after Matt Fryatt had put the Foxes ahead early on. But Max Gradel's free-kick deep into injury time handed Leicester an undeserved point.

Roberto told BBC Three Counties Radio:

Roberto: "I didn't think we deserved only one point today. I thought our team was the better team, we showed it on the pitch and should have picked up three points."

Question: "A couple of points about that goal; firstly, do you think it was a free-kick? And secondly, it was the sixth minute of injury time - over what the official had indicated."

R: "It's difficult to say whether it was a free-kick because obviously it was a bit crowded around that area. Certainly I don't know where we got the added time from - perhaps something that the referee will explain to us someday, or not. But it's not going to change the result - whatever I say, it's not going to make me feel any better."

Q: "You played ten minutes in the end - it was just ridiculous really."

R: "I can't really say too much because they'll fine me, but what you said is spot on."

Q: "We'll move away from that to save you some money - Leicester started well, came out of the blocks pretty quickly, and did you feel that your team didn't react to the opening exchanges too well and let Leicester come on to them a bit?"

R: "Well let's not forget that Fryatt is the top scorer in this league, they're top of the league - obviously we're disappointed to concede so early, it was a long ball we probably could have defended better - but after that I thought our team was brilliant."

Q: "Well they certainly reacted to the disappointment of that, and Peter Leven, who's back in the side now of course, scored a couple of goals - the first one a brilliantly taken left foot shot from a great build-up."

R: "The build-up was fantastic, I have to say - one touch, two touch, and a great shot from him [Leven] from outside the box. The second one was probably even better.

Q: "A slight bit of luck in it - the first shot hit the 'keeper and just rebounded off him, but he certainly deserved it because that was some run into the area."

R: "Yeah absolutely, I think we deserved it. They got the ball off the line in the first half, and [Luke] Chadwick had a great chance after ten minutes, alone in front of the 'keeper. We had a bit of luck sometimes, but I think we deserved it."

Q: "How much confidence does it give you that you restricted Leicester, when you would have expected them to come on to you - they haven't lost in 20 games - they didn't have a chance, until the goal. They had one shot just over the bar - that was it."

R: "You're right - second half we pressed them, we put them on the back foot, into their own half. Then we scored the second goal, and tried to counter-attack a little bit, just tried to not let them close to our goal, and I kind of thought the only way they could score would have been from a free-kick, or a deflection or long shot - and in fact it came from a free-kick."

Q: "Do you think that's one of your side's best performances?"

R: "It's probably one of those but we've had some very, very good performances this season, not only today."

Robby's reaction: Added time "ridiculous"
Posted by: Dons Online (IP Logged)
Date: 01/03/2009 19:47

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