Curbishley blasts lino

  • by Matthew O'Greel
  • Sunday, 20th January 2008

A furious Alan Curbishley had said he was 'convinced' that Darius Vassell's equaliser in today's 1-1 draw with Manchester City shouldn't have been allowed to stand.

Vassell was clearly standing in an offside position before scoring City's leveller in today's 1-1 draw at Eastlands - yet play was allowed to continue.

"We're convinced he was offside but the linesman is saying that he wasn't interfering and then suddenly became active," blasted Curbishley. "It's damaged us."

Yet Curbishley was delighted with the overall performance of his team, who came so close to becoming the first away team to win at the City of Manchester stadium this season.

"We should have picked all three points up, I think everyone would agree with that - but I'm really pleased with the way we played," he added.

"We've had the best chances. Carlton's one was a difficult one and I think the dender got a touch to it. Mark Noble had two really good chances and Freddie Ljungberg got himself into decent positions.

"I'm so disappointed we took the lead and only held on to it for five or ten minutes. We pobably needed to see it out a little bit longer. It was very similar to Wednesday night where we just haven't been clinical enough, and that's part of our game we've got to improve on.

"Second half I was just waiting for for us to finish something off - I think we probably deserved that."

And Curbishley has special praise for young City keeper Joe Hart, whose saves both today and on Wednesday ensured West Ham return back to London without a win in either match.

"Their keeper did well. Over the two games - the Cup game on Wednesday and today - he's probably kept them in it. So he can be well pleased with what he has achieved," he said.

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