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Wednesday, 10 February 2010

World News McLeish Fury At Ngog Penalty "Dive"

Birmingham boss Alex McLeish accused David Ngog of diving to win the penalty that gave Liverpool a 2-2 draw at Anfield.

And even Liverpool manager Rafael Benitez, who avoided a potentially-disastrous defeat as a result of the penalty, agreed that his side were lucky to get the spot-kick, drilled home by substitute Steven Gerrard.

Ngog had grabbed an early lead for Liverpool, who were subsequently stunned by two goals before the break by Christian Benitez and Cameron Jerome to give Birmingham the lead.

And it took a controversial penalty, awarded for a challenge by Lee Carsley on Ngog, to secure Liverpool's point.

McLeish was left fuming, saying: "There is no real debate, Ngog has dived to win his team a penalty, it happens in the game and has done for years and years.

"The referee (Peter Walton) didn't get that one right, and when he looks at it again I am sure he will agree.

"He's an honest enough guy, but he will probably agree that their player dived, and it was a terrific dive. Lee Carsley never touched him."

He added: "Lee dived in, and when you do that there is always a risk. But on this occasion there was no contact. That was not even close to being a penalty.

"I felt we were comfortable, but apart from when Gerrard made a late run to hit the post, I felt my defenders and the whole team were awesome.

"We scored two fine goals, a good set-piece for Benitez to get his first goal for us and then Jerome's cracker. It was a goal from the second it left his foot.

"The players deserve a lot of credit for the way the fought for everything."

And when quizzed on the penalty decision, Benitez conceded his side were fortunate.

He said: "We scored with a penalty that probably wasn't a penalty, but we deserved to win the game.

"It was clear, it was not a penalty, even if that works against us.

"There have been many times this season that we have not been awarded penalties we should have had.

"I have asked Ngog and he said that maybe it wasn't a penalty either."

Benitez, who now can now add Yossi Benayoun and Albert Riera, who were both substituted with suspected hamstring injuries, to his fitness probles revealed that Fernando Torres "did not feel confident to play."

But, with an international break looming - Torres will play no part for Spain - Benitez said there would be no surgery for his star striker at this stage.

Torres is struggling with a groin problem, and Benitez said: "Torres was not confident, we have now started a three-week course of treatment and we will have to see how he reacts. We are not considering an operation yet."

Copyright (c) 2009 Press Association

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