BOWYER IN A RAGE AT YATES ‘DIVE’
Dogged Robins on high
LEE Bowyer was left fuming over what he felt was a dive by Blackpool striker Jerry Yates to win a penalty in the Tangerines’ win over Charlton.
The Addicks were far from at their best as a pair of Yates penalties and a strike from Matty Virtue continued their dreadful recent record at home.
But it was Yates’ fall to the ground under apparent minimal pressure from Ben Watson for the third goal that angered Bowyer the most.
He said: “Have you seen the second penalty they’ve got? It’s unreal. The worst decision I’ve seen in my life. The fella just dived on the floor.
“That was horrendous. We’ll get an apology, but it doesn’t help me and the team. We have to improve, plain and simple.”
Charlton also had two men sent off in the second half – skipper Darren Pratley and striker Chuks Aneke. Bowyer is expecting the latter to be overturned.
On the performance overall, he continued: “I think the players are feeling sorry for themselves.
“They look nervous. I don’t know why. They have to be confident and express themselves.”
The deadlock was broken after 10 minutes when Deji Oshilaja clumsily brought down Ellis Simms after being outpaced by the Everton loanee, and Yates converted the ensuing penalty.
The hosts offered little in response, and in the 37th minute Virtue had time and space to pick his spot for a low drive that doubled Blackpool’s lead.
Bowyer made four changes at half-time, only for Pratley to earn himself a second yellow card two minutes later for lashing out at Jordan Gabriel.
Yates then went down in the box after 50 minutes and the striker once again scored.
And to cap Charlton’s nightmare afternoon, Aneke was given a straight red card after 85 minutes for an elbow to the face of Daniel Ballard.
Blackpool boss Neil Critchley, meanwhile, was delighted with the way his team played to keep their strong run of form going.
“We were excellent,” Critchley said. “We scored three goals, got the three points and we kept a clean sheet to boot.
“The win keeps our little run going and it also keeps that momentum building.
“You could have thought that the performance may have petered out at the end, with us three goals to the good and Charlton down to nine men, but they didn’t stop.
“Maybe we could have kept the ball a little bit better when we were against 10 men and made use of the ball a bit more and created more chances.
“But we’d have taken that before the start of the game, scoring three goals and keeping a clean sheet.”
Amos 5, Gunter 6, Oshilaja 5, Famewo 6, Purrington 6 (Maatsen
45, 6), Pratley 4, Jaiyesimi 6 (Smith 45,
5), Millar 6 (Watson 45, 6), Shinnie 6, Stockley 6 (Schwartz 82, 6), Washington 6 (Aneke 45, 4).
Subs not used: Pearce, Harness.
Maxwell 6, Lawrence-Gabriel 7, Ballard 6, Thorniley 7, Garbutt 7, Ward 7 (Robson 84, 6), Virtue 8, Stewart 6, Kaikai 6 (Mitchell 62, 7), Simms 7 (Shaw 85), Yates 8 (Embleton 68, 6). Subs not used: Dougall, Turton, Moore.
IPSWICH manager Paul Lambert, whose time appears to be running out with US investors said to be “on the verge” of buying the club, was delighted with his side’s battling qualities in their narrow win over promotion rivals Doncaster.
The hosts sealed the outcome thanks to a wonderful 25-yard free-kick from Alan Judge and a poacher’s goal from James Norwood.
Substitute Jon Taylor reduced the arrears for the visitors who pressed hard for an equaliser, but the result lifted Town to eighth spot, two points off the top six with games in hand, with Rovers remaining sixth.
Ipswich took the lead midway through the first half when Judge struck home after Teddy Bishop was fouled by Taylor Richards.
There was then a series of blocked efforts in the Ipswich penalty box from Tomas Holy and Tote Nsiala following efforts from Richards and Josh Sims as Doncaster forced the pace.
But Town added a second in the 54th minute when Norwood was on hand to divert the ball into the net.
The visitors responded strongly and Richards’ shot hit a post before substitute Taylor pulled one back in the 73rd minute when he converted from inside the box.
And despite concerted pressure from Doncaster, Ipswich held on to their slim lead, much to Lambert’s delight.
“The last few weeks have been really encouraging. We went to Hull and won and we’ve beaten two teams above us which is great,” he said.
“We’re now only 10 points off second and still have a game in hand, so it’s not beyond the team to go and do it (get promotion). We practise free-kicks at training and thankfully that (Alan Judge’s goal) went in and it was a terrific goal.
“As a back four and midfield four the shape was great and we had some moments when we rode our luck at times and guys had to throw their bodies in.”
He then added that if the club is taken over he would not likely remain at Portman Road, admitting: “When a takeover generally comes in, it’s 99.9 per cent I won’t be here.”
But while Lambert was more than satisfied with the win, Rovers’ boss Darren Moore was “disappointed” with the result after having much of the possession over the 90 minutes.
“We did enough to win,” he said. “Basically elementary poor goals for our standard. We had enough ball in the game, we had enough chances, we had enough possession but we did not capitalise on it.
“We’re good with the ball and had enough today and had a large percentage of possession, but the final contact in the box eluded us today and the concentration levels at the other end just caught us out.”
CHELTENHAM manager Michael Duff believes resilience and dogged defensive play are driving his side towards League One.
Goals from January loansignings Sam Smith and Callum Wright fired the in-form Robins to a fourth successive away success at Scunthorpe, but it was their work off the ball, when closing down quickly and putting their bodies on the line, that was key to Cheltenham’s success.
“I thought it was a professional and clinical performance away from home,” said Duff, whose side now boast the division’s best away record.
“We got the two goals relatively early and in the second half I was quite prepared to sit in and see the game out.
“We could maybe have had a few more moments of free-flowing football, but there have been times this season when we’ve been away to teams, played them off the park and not won.
“We’re at a stage of the season now where it’s more about mentality and results. We knew we had to be good coming here. Scunthorpe had won four of the last five and three of them had been at home.
“It proved to be a difficult game and Scunthorpe were still knocking on the door at the end, but in the last 10 minutes I felt as comfortable as you can be in this league with a two-goal lead.
“For all their possession
I didn’t really feel like they caused us many problems.
“The away form is pleasing – I think it’s based on our resilience and doggedness.
“We’ve conceded only 11 goals in 16 away games, and something like that always gives you a chance.
“But we do need to address our home form now, which is something we’ve looked into.
“Maybe when we’re at home we have a bit of a softer mentality, I don’t know, but it’s something we have to put right.”
A game which proved to be a routine win for the Robins could have been very different had the home side made the most of an early opening when Scunthorpe defender Emmanual Onariase headed across goal and wide when unmarked at the far post.
Instead, it was Cheltenham