Scunthorpe boss insists the Iron deserved more

Alan Knill was in no doubt his side deserved something from their trip to Fratton Park.

The Scunthorpe boss reckoned the Iron were ‘more than a match’ for a talented Pompey side.

Knill believes the visitors’ performance was the best they have produced all season.

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But he bemoaned a crucial penalty decision which denied Scunthorpe a vital second goal.

Two minutes after Leon Clarke had put the Iron in front, Gabor Gyepes brought Karl Hawley down in the Pompey box.

The referee waved play on, though, and on 12 minutes Gyepes levelled the clash.

‘Without a doubt (it was a penalty),’ insisted Knill.

‘We have looked at it again – we are lucky enough to have an analyst – and there is no doubt it was a penalty. The lad catches him.

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‘To be fair to the referee, he is not in a position to see it but the linesman is and doesn’t make the decision.’

Despite feeling aggrieved by that decision, Knill still reckons Pompey were there for the taking.

Fratton Park is always a tough place to come,’ he said.

‘They have some talented players, despite the problems, but I felt we were more than a match for them.

‘We were good value to go one up and could have had a penalty as well.

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‘Then we lose our goalkeeper, the substitute comes on and saves the pen and after that I thought we were quite dominant.

‘So it (the defeat) was really difficult to take.

‘We had opportunities to get the second goal, didn’t take them and got punished right at the end.

‘We just weren’t clinical enough.

‘We were in good situations and made poor decisions.

‘But I have to be honest, I thought the performance was probably as good as we have played.

‘And I will take that positive out of it but really I should be talking about three points.’

– ROB ATKINS

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