Kirkland: No blame attached to Cole

Chris Kirkland does not hold a grudge against West Ham's Carlton Cole after the collision that left the Wigan goalkeeper requiring stitches. The 28-year-old took a whack from the Hammers forward early in the first half of his side's eventual 3-2 defeat at Upton Park on Saturday.Kirkland caught the full force of Cole's boot in his face when attempting to save at his feet and therefore required medical attention at half-time.But the shot-stopper does not blame his opponent and is instead frustrated that Wigan went in at the interval 2-1 behind after Ilan scored and Radoslav Kovac converted a rebound from Mark Noble's free-kick to cancel out Jonathan Spector's own goal. Kirkland said in The Sun: "My mouth's not too bad. It was accidental. "I thought it might have been a penalty to be honest because I almost brought him down, but I don't know what happened after that. "It's just a few stitches. I was disappointed with the free-kick, I thought I might have got it away. "I tried to scoop it out. But I'm also disappointed our lads didn't follow it in and West Ham did to score."

Source: Team_Talk