Colchester United captain, Luke Prosser, revealed that Crawley Town winger Luke Gambin had admitted to him that he “dived,” to earn a first-half penalty during the U’s 3-1 home win over their Sussex visitors.
Referee Trevor Kettle pointed to the spot, after consultation with his assistant, after Gambin took a tumble just inside the penalty area, with Prosser in close attendance.
Filipe Morais. Crawley’s skipper, dispatched the penalty to make it 1-1, although the U’s, despite being incensed with the decision, responded by netting twice in the second period through Frank Nouble and Luke Norris to bag three more points on home turf.
“It was disappointing,” insisted Prosser, with reference to the harsh penalty decision.
“I understand that I gave him something to look at, but I was no where near him.
“But there was no contact, and even the lad (Gambin) said that he dived. He said that, so it was frustrating that it went against us, especially after what happened last week as well (conceding a dubious penalty in a 3-1 defeat at Stevenage).
“But we showed character to come back and put two goals past them in the second half, so we are a very happy dressing room,” said Prosser.
Centre-half Prosser denied Crawley a likely equaliser in the second half, by heading Ollie Palmer’s bullet header off the goal-line, but he preferred to dwell on the performance of the team.
“I read the header a little, and managed to get it off the line, but I’m a defender and that is part-and-parcel of the game,” continued Prosser.
“That’s a massive, massive three points for us.
“It didn’t go according to plan in the first half, having been 1-0 up and then being hit by that disappointing referee’s decision.
“We had to bounce back. We were all very frustrated in there (the home dressing room) at half-time, but we took it out and showed our frustration in our second-half performance.
“We kept our composure, defended very well, and when you’ve got players like Noubs (Frank Nouble) and Noz (Luke Norris) up front, with Szmods (Sammie Szmodics) as well, there’s always going to be goals in our team, so that helps as well.
“It helps us at the back, knowing that these strikers, given a chance, will take it, which they did today.”
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here