Roeder: Poll Admitted Error
Last updated : 08 February 2002 By Mike Reich
The first reaction of all West Ham fans to the referee's involvement to Chelsea's first goal on Wednesday night could probably not be repeated here.
Glenn has now come forward and stated that the referee has actually apologised about the incident - which Glenn says was a mistake, but one that could have been avoided.
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At the time I hadn't seen the video, and you are looking at so many things such as whether everybody is marked up, the wall is in the right place, the goalie is in the right place, and so on, you don't always see every detail. But when I have seen the video, Graham Poll's position, standing over the ball...he has got to look at himself," he told the club's site.
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I know for a fact the referee's 'coach' went into the room at half-time and told him he had got that completely wrong. Paul Goddard was there at the time and he apologised, but that is of little use to us.
"He has made a mistake, it is an honest mistake, but nevertheless he can't put himself over the ball where our goalkeeper can't see it, then, at the last second, step away to allow Hasselbaink to take a shot.
"He has acted in the manner that he is part of the set play. I hope we will never see anything like it will happen again. I have got to believe it has not been done on purpose but I just wonder that referees are not accountable - they keep their heads down.
"Just before half-time is a particularly bad time to concede a free-kick, and we have been preaching for weeks and weeks and weeks not to give away unnecessary free-kicks. There was no need to commit the free-kick that we gave away - but the referee doesn't cover himself in glory in the part he played either.
"I wouldn't say it was the story of the season but it is not the first time it has happened to us," he said concerning the free-kick.
"Conceding goals from set plays, as we have done of late, is particularly annoying, as was the timing on Wednesday, with them equalising just before half time and getting the winner deep into injury time. I hope it is just a phase and a phase we are going to come out of now. We don't want to concede silly free kicks, and that is it."
He then went on to admit that he was pleased with the teams performance: "There is never a nice way to lose a game, but that was particularly difficult to stomach losing in that manner. The goals we conceded disguised the fact that we actually played well in the game and for long periods we at least matched Chelsea and, at times, did better than they did."
