Source: Team_Talk
Cotterill fuming over Dickinson
Steve Cotterill felt Carl Dickinson should not have been sent off as his Portsmouth side suffered a 3-2 defeat to Doncaster at Fratton Park.[LNB] Rovers raced into a 2-0 lead inside the opening half-hour of Saturday's Championship clash thanks to goals from James Hayter and James Coppinger, before Joel Ward and David Nugent levelled it up for the home side with 15 minutes remaining.[LNB]David Healy struck the winner 10 minutes from time before Dickinson was dismissed for a lunging tackle.[LNB]Cotterill said: "It didn't need to get to that point, it was a free-kick (for a foul) on John Utaka just before it. He got his heel clipped as he was going to clip the ball.[LNB]"They nicked the ball and Carl Dickinson, who has run his socks off down that left-hand side, dived in in desperation to get the ball back. He wanted to go and get a winner.[LNB]"I don't think (David) Healy's reaction helped. I've never known Healy to be a fighter. He got brave all of a sudden.[LNB]"Dicko is a competitor. He's a competitive boy but I didn't think there was that much in it really."[LNB]Cotterill also thought Michael Brown was fouled by Mustapha Dumbuya in the run-up to Doncaster's second goal.[LNB]He added: "Yes, he had a stud mark right up by his knee. It was above his shin pad. I think the referee gave free-kicks for a lot less than that.[LNB]"He had a good long look at it and he wasn't sure."[LNB]Cotterill feels he needs new players to freshen up the squad and added: "We probably needed reinforcements a little while ago. If you are trying to get people in on loan, you've got to get people in who are going to be better than what you've got."[LNB]Doncaster manager Sean O'Driscoll unsurprisingly had a different view on Dickinson's dismissal.[LNB]O'Driscoll said: "It was reckless, that's the problem. The boy's a strong tackler and he was committed. There are a lot of good things about his play.[LNB]"Given the nature of the game and the way it was going, they were trying to get back into it because we had scored the third goal. But you can't be reckless on a football pitch anymore.[LNB]"I've had the benefit of seeing it again on the DVD and I'm sure when Steve (Cotterill) sees it, he won't have much argument.[LNB]"We'd have been talking about a lad in hospital with a broken leg if he hadn't jumped out of the way."[LNB]O'Driscoll praised Healy for his contribution since arriving on loan from Sunderland.[LNB]He added: "David hasn't played much league football for quite a long time. We lost Billy Sharp to a hamstring injury and we were looking around for someone. A lot of my lads knew him from Leeds and Sunderland.[LNB]"He just fits in with us. If you give him the ball, he takes care of it. He has done better than a lot of people would have expected.[LNB]"He has a good attitude and has been a good professional at the top level for a long time. He has got his enthusiasm back with us.[LNB]"Steve Bruce has done us a massive favour. He's a Premier League player on Premier League wages. If we had to pay anything near what his salary is, he wouldn't be here."
