Sturrock: Football is cruel

Last updated : 09 December 2009 By Paul Stevens
Paul Sturrock

"Football can be cruel sometimes. We lost to a stoppage-time goal at Leicester and we lost to a goal near the end again today.

"Carl has hit the post with a shot and then they go up the other end and score the winner. That's football, especially when you are down in the table where we are at the moment.

"What did please me though was that I was able to field the back four that had been miserly before and I did think there would only be a goal in the game today.

"If we had got that goal I think we would have gone on to win the game but we didn't and they did."

Kevin Blackwell

"We knew it was going to be a tough game. We had to be resilient, strong and focused and I am delighted that we showed those qualities really.

"The defence was superb. The conditions out there were not conducive to good football, it was raining and the wind was howling all over the place.

"It makes it difficult. That's why teams don't like coming down here because you have to keep going and stay focused. It's important.

"We were putting them under good pressure towards the end and in the end we deserved to nick it but I would not have been unhappy with the draw. It was a great strike by James."