Jimmy says Oshilaja was innocent in controverial sending off
JIMMY Floyd Hasselbaink felt Charlton Athletic’s players contributed to Deji Oshilaja’s sending-off on Saturday.
Oshilaja appeared to be given his red card some time after Charlton’s Jayden Stockley was dismissed after the two had tangled at a corner.
Hasselbaink said he did not see much of the incident itself but trusted the word of Oshilaja, his captain.
“I’ve seen it back but I can’t see it very well because the camera is here [near the dugouts] and it happened on the other side,” said Hasselbaink.
“Deji [Oshilaja] is saying he got hit, he got swung at, and I believe him.
“He says he didn’t retaliate. If you look how the two boys were sent off, there’s a big gap between them, while Charlton players go over to the linesman.
“I don’t know but my player says that’s what happened and I trust my player.
“It was a big moment. They did it better with 10 men. We needed to adjust and change things and that didn’t happen quick enough.
“It is more difficult to lose a centre-half than it is to lose a striker.”
There was further controversy when Kane Hemmings went down under a challenge as he nicked the ball away from goalkeeper Craig Macgillivray and was booked for diving.
“Kane said he got touched by the goalkeeper, that’s the second time in a row that’s happened now,” said Hasselbaink.
“The referee says he dived, Kane is saying that he got touched. What can I say? We haven’t been lucky with the referees – here or away.
“We’re on the other end of it but it’s about keeping on going, keep on fighting and, hopefully, it will turn.”
Hasselbaink acknowledged, however, that his team had not done enough to threaten Charlton once the visitors had scored, despite HAVFORMER
ing plenty of possession in the second half.
“If you look at Charlton, did they give us problems? No,” he said.
“It was a game of small margins. “In the second half it was only us. “We didn’t create enough, we should have created more with the amount of possession we had.
“I expected more crosses in the box. I expected more to happen in their box and it didn’t.
“We were a bit naive at times. We know we need to get better with the ball.”
Burton also lost Cameron Borthwick-jackson to a cut head early in the game, Hasselbaink replacing him with Frazer Blake-tracy after he had been off the field for nine minutes.
“I didn’t want to make the substitution but I was forced to because it was taking so long,” said Hasselbaink.
“I would have wanted to keep him on so I still had three substitutes.”
Charlton’s goal came from a cross after a corner, flicked on and then headed in by Ben Purrington – and it was a first against the Brewers this season, said the manager.
“It’s very disappointing to concede a goal like that,” he said.
“That’s our first one from a corner this season. Normally we defend them really well.
“It is one of those things, when it’s a tight game, that’s where a goal is going to come.”