Boss bites back in cheating debate

In the post-match press conference, Abbott refused to criticise Saddlers winger Sofiene Zaaboub for earning the visitors a hotly-disputed penalty, claiming: "I would want my players to fall into people and go down and get us a penalty."If you dive and get a penalty, fine. If you dive and get a booking, I'll pat you on the back as well. Paul Thirlwell said the lad put the ball past him, brushed into him and went down. I think that's clever."Former Cumbrians hero Jeff Thorpe referred to Abbott's outburst as "bewilderingly sad" in local paper the News and Star, but Abbott insists he was simply backing the referee."I certainly did not do that in the press conference," he added in the News and Star. "What I did say is that people are clever in gaining penalties and by saying that, I was sticking up for the referee."Jeff Thorpe wasn't in that press conference, otherwise he would have known that I did not use the word 'dive' or 'cheat'."

Source: Team_Talk