Shay`s assessment

With clean sheets on the agenda it was poignant that Shay Given came out after the game to discuss the recent bother we`ve been having at defending the lofted ball. Like most he was understandably bitter about the manner of defeat when talking to the press:

'If you get a clean sheet away from home, you've always got a chance to win the game. We've not been able to do that for such a long time. It's very disappointing for the goalkeepers - both me and Steve - that we haven't been able to do that. We're still working on it, even after the Tottenham game. We still need to improve, and we're working hard to try and climb the table.

We didn't play very well, but looking at the game as a whole - going 1-0 down and getting back into it - sometimes you don't play well, but you think 'we'll take a point'. It looked like we were going to go on to win the game, as they were backing off, and we were coming into the game. We're extremely disappointed with the second goal - it was just a long ball.

We should have cleared it on the edge of the box, and for the second ball, the guy's just come off the bench and he's free in the middle of the goal. To be fair we didn't play that well, and having got back into the game it was disappointing to concede with five or six minutes to go.'

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