Source: Bournemouth_Echo
Cherries: Roach angry at Yeovil claims
MIFFED Cherries boss Joe Roach has hit back at claims his side were physical and ill disciplined during their 3-1 victory over Yeovil Town. Roach has blasted the allegations as a load of tosh and a lame excuse after the visitors from Somerset were condemned to defeat at Chapel Gate on Saturday. A report on the Yeovil Town official website described Cherries' display as robust and accused Roach's charges of being over-physical in their challenges. The article also tried to defend Glovers youngster Tom Hopkins who was sent off for a two-footed tackle on Cherries' Tom Green as the visitors finished with 10 men. Roach, whose side received a solitary yellow card during the contest, told the Daily Echo: I am very disappointed and can't see where those comments have come from. The report is completely without foundation. In some respects, their account of the game is almost a reversal of what actually happened. We are not a physical team and haven't got that type of character. If any of my players were to commit a malicious tackle, which wasn't dealt with by the referee, I would deal with it myself by substituting the person immediately. We had a similar situation after we had beaten Plymouth 5-1 where their website report apparently described us as direct and said they had kept giving away the ball. Commenting to the Yeovil website, Glovers manager Mo Hopkins said: I was a little disappointed with the lack of protection from the referee towards my team. That said, I believe we need to compete better for the second ball. Roach's young guns trailed to Rob Clowes's 21st-minute opener before Jayden Stockley and Tom Hill netted either side of half-time to give them the lead. Tim Stephenson bagged a third on 57 minutes before the Glovers were reduced to 10 men following the dismissal |of Hopkins 13 minutes from time. Roach added: I thought we were good value for the win. I would like to compliment Yeovil for the way they played because they tried to get the ball down and play.