Luke Prosser admitted that, “on another day,” Notts County striker Shola Ameobi would have been sent off for an off-the-ball incident which left the U’s skipper crumpled on the deck.
The U’s were 1-0 up and in the ascendancy when Ameobi appeared to elbow Prosser in the chest, although referee Brendan Malone chose to take no action.
Ameobi went on to score the Magpies’ vital second goal in a 3-1 away win.
“I went to see the doctor, and have just looked at the incident in the physio room,” revealed Prosser.
“I got an elbow straight in the chest. He (Ameobi) apologised to me after the game, put it that way.
“It’s part-and-parcel of football, but obviously it didn’t go our way.
“To be fair, we were having a bit of a tussle before we went into the box and I was looking across when he made a connection with me.
“It looks like he struck out, looking at the video, but that’s not the reason why we lost the game.
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“It’s a big decision, but we have still got to defend crosses that are coming in, and you’d always rather there were 11 versus 11 on the pitch, to make it a better game.
“He managed to get the second goal, but we have still got to defend that.
“Albeit on another day he would not have been on the pitch, but we have still got to defend better than what we did do.”
Asked whether he thought about taking out revenge, Prosser joked: “He is a lot bigger than me, and you have to pick your battles!
“And it’s fine now, though on another day, he shouldn’t have still been on the pitch, maybe.”
Prosser felt that the U’s should have been two or three goals ahead, before Notts County staged their second-half fightback.
But in the end, they only had Drey Wright’s ninth minute opener to show for their early dominance.
“Notts County have their game-plan, and they don’t change their style of play,” explained Prosser.
“We knew that they were going to have the long balls going into the big striker, but I thought we dealt with it pretty well. We got the ball down ourselves and created a few chances, and on another day we could have been 3-0 up before they even had a chance on our goal.
“Sloppy defending has cost us, but we will go again.”
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