Shawcross puzzled by disallowed goal

Posted Wednesday, February 17, 2010 by PA

Stoke defender Ryan Shawcross was puzzled after being denied a late winner against Manchester City on Tuesday night.

Shawcross thought he had snatched a 2-1 win when he headed home in injury time at the end of a stormy Barclays Premier League encounter at the Britannia Stadium. Referee Alan Wiley, however, saw differently and disallowed the goal for a push on City goalkeeper Shay Given.

Shawcross told the Stoke Sentinel: "I've got a good leap and I timed it well. I got above the keeper and just nodded it into the goal and thought I had scored. The ref thought I had fouled the keeper, but I didn't think so - and having seen it since, I still don't think I did."

He added: "I asked the referee about it at the end and he said, 'You can't challenge the keeper in the six-yard box'.

"That is a bit silly, because if I am jumping higher than him then I am not going to challenge him." Nevertheless, the result still earned Stoke a good point and lifted them a place in the table to 11th.

Stoke dominated the first half but were forced to play most of the second with 10 men after Abdoulaye Faye was sent off for pulling down Emmanuel Adebayor.

Glenn Whelan took advantage of poor defending and an error by Given to fire the Potters ahead in the 72nd minutes but City rallied and pulled level through Gareth Barry five minutes from time.

Shawcross added: "We are disappointed not to get three points, but a point against a team who are challengers for the top four is very good.

"You usually find that when a team goes down to 10 men then they are quite resilient and I thought we were as everyone pulled together."