Camp backs pal Steele to come back from horror
Lee Camp has backed Jason Steele to bounce back after his red-card howler at QPR.
Sunderland keeper Steele was given his marching orders four minutes into the second half on Saturday after he dashed outside of his penalty area to meet Darnell Furlong’s punt forward, misjudged the bounce of the ball and then used his hand to direct it away from QPR forward Paul Smyth.
Steele is set to serve a onegame ban for denying an obvious goalscoring opportunity, with Sunderland set to receive confirmation from the FA today.
He will miss this weekend’s home Sky Bet Championship clash with Preston North End.
QPR capitalised on their man advantage and took the lead just after the hour mark through Ebere Eze and were worthy 1-0 winners.
Camp – set to return to the starting line-up against Preston – had sympathy for Steele, who had recently been recalled after being dropped.
On the dismissal, Camp said: “I’ll be honest, I didn’t see it because I was sat in the dugout and, with the gaffer and Kit [Symons] standing up, you can’t really see a lot from the dugout.
“I just heard ‘handball’ – at first, I didn’t realise Steeley had handballed it. I can’t really comment on it.
“I feel for him – it is horrible and we have all been in that situation.
“He has come back into the team and done really well.
“Unfortunately, this is the life of a goalkeeper.
“We have all been there, but he is a strong character and a great lad and, as always, he will bounce back.
“Unfortunately for him, it opens up an opportunity for me.
“You can only control what you can control.
“If I get the opportunity to play again, I will do what I can do and it is up to the manager to decide.”
Experienced Camp, 33, on loan from Cardiff City, had two spells with QPR earlier in his career and was afforded a very warm welcome on his return to Loftus Road.
“I got into the game pretty quickly and was pleased with some of the saves I had to make,” added Camp.
“I had some great times here – I still have friends here, it is a club close to my heart.
“On a personal level, it was nice to return, but we have lost a game of football. It is not about me.
“It is about the team winning and, unfortunately, we haven’t been able to do that.”
QPR boss Ian Holloway hailed matchwinner Ebere Eze’s strike past Camop.
Holloway added: Ebere has got some wonderful skills and he took his goal superbly. It was a lovely finish with his left foot.
“He showed that little bit of QPR stardust for us.
“He finished the goal with a bit of a cigar on!”