NI’s Jones eager to leave diving row in past
KILMARNOCK winger Jordan Jones has just emerged from some unwanted publicity and wants to focus his attention fully on his football going forward.
The Northern Ireland international was at the centre of a diving storm when he received a twomatch ban for going down to win a penalty at Dundee last month.
Jones insists he was innocent despite Kilmarnock deciding they did not have the evidence to challenge the punishment. And the former Middlesbrough player now wants to quietly get on with his game despite speculation linking the likes of Aston Villa and Swansea with interest in his services.
The 24-year old — who warmed up for today’s Premiership game against St Johnstone by playing twice for his country — said: “It was a testing period, and it was the international break as well, so there was a lot of attention because there was nothing else to talk about. I was the only player to ever dive in history apparently.
“It was a testing period but you just have to get your head down and get through it. You can’t let it affect you. People are going to say things and that’s the way football is: everyone has an opinion. If that’s their opinion, no problem.
“I was running full pace, I was up against a full-back who had actually done me in a couple of bad challenges before, I cut across him and felt something, so I went down and got the penalty. I wasn’t screaming for the penalty either.”
Jones admitted he was adversely affected by transfer talk when Rangers had a bid for him rejected almost 12 months ago.
“There were teams constantly being linked, I was affected by it,” he said. “This year I’m making sure it doesn’t affect me. I’ll blank it out and focus on football.”