After Darlington Away
Whats your reaction on Iyseden Christie ?
Well, it's just totally unaccepptable. I think that one of the big things that we said at
half time was 'keep your discipline'. They are playing quite well but we were soaking it
up quite well and I always felt that it would only be a matter of time before Iyseden got
his chance over the top. That's exactly what happened, but instead of Iyseden putting us 2
- 0 up he ends up putting us down to 10 men and you could see from the reaction of the
players - not just because he missed the chance but because of him being sent off - it was
going to be one-way traffic from then. Obviously I'm disappointed with the goals we've
conceded, but you've played against a side that's got, you know, Dave's got a strong squad
& he's got some good players but we were 1 - 0 up and should go 2 -0 up away from home
and I'm not saying that it would have killed the game off but then it would have been very
difficult for Darlington to come back and win the game. There's just no excuse for it.
At the end of this season this could be one of those blips that you look
back and say 'Well, there was 3 points that we gave away that should have been 3 points
thats got us up either automatically or made certain of a play-off place ?
I mean, yeah, there's a long way to go but I'm just really disappointed at the way the
game ended up. I think there were periods in the first half where we were under the cosh
from corners and free kicks and we did quite well really and I always thought on the break
that we would have a chance and its just - the old saying of goals changing games - well
incidents change games as well and its just beyond me and my kind of thinking that...his
touch is poor anyway on the ball so he's lost his chance and it's in the 'keepers hands so
why go in for it anyway ? Just stay 1 - 0 up, get your shape again, try and get another
goal. Instead he's, you know, impetuous and he dives in and I thought he deserved to go
I've got no argument with the referee at all.
Have you spoken to Iyseden ?
I've spoken to him, yeah, and asked him is this going to happen...Supporters 'phone in and
ask 'why is Iyseden Christie left out' and I think that explains it to everybody, a lack
of discipline and doing as he's told. Yeah, he puts bums on seats with his exciting play
but if he's going to spend 3 or 5 games a season in the dressing room because he's
suspended then it's a waste of time him being here.
Did he apologise ?
Erm, he just said that he didn't mean to do it but that's
a poor excuse, anybody can say that. The fact is he shouldn't have done it, and it was
unacceptable.
(The team) are very disappointed. Another point was that we never got hold of Marco
Gabbiadini, I think he was excellent. First half I thought he was quite dangerous and I
said at half time if we didn't get tighter to him and were physically strong with him,
erm, then he was always going to be dangerous. He proved that, his goals were excellent,
and we never really coped with him.
One gets the feeling there may be changes next
week
Well, after next week he (Christie) will be serving a 3 match suspension because it will
be classed as violent conduct - it will be three games I imagine.