Scoreline so harsh — proud Dickov

ATHLETIC manager Paul Dickov was philosophical following a defeat at Anfield in which the impact his side had on the game was not nearly reflected in its final scoreline.

Goals from Craig Bellamy, Steven Gerrard and Jonjo Shelvey plus late strikes by substitute pair Andy Carroll and Stewart Downing handed Liverpool what was ultimately a comfortable passage to round four of the FA Cup.

Athletic’s response — the first goal of a richly entertaining contest — was registered through Robbie Simpson, his brilliant 20-yard effort arriving after the visitors had spurned a host of other chances to take a shock lead.

Dickov felt that after that, events conspired to work against Athletic.

“One thing I wanted before the game was for the boys to give a really good account of themselves and I think they did that,” said Dickov, who was told after the game by boyhood hero Kenny Dalglish that the final result was harsh on his men.

“We gave them a little scare in the first half.

“It was a fantastic strike from Robbie and we know he has got that in his locker.

“We keep talking about what a good footballer he is and how good he is technically.

“Even before that, we had chances — two for Chris Taylor, Shefki Kuqi was clean through and Tom Adeyemi had a header from a corner.

“I am gutted for the boys and for the fans who came, because I don’t think we deserved to lose that 5-1.

“We were unfortunate to concede a deflected goal (from Bellamy) straight after we scored and for the first time in the game we lost our heads and our discipline a little bit.

“When you do that against top teams, it is tough for you.

“We regrouped and I still don’t know for the life of me why the penalty (scored by Gerrard) was awarded.

“The only thing that worried me coming to Anfield was having a Premier League referee (Neil Swarbrick) because I don’t think we got anything.”

While Athletic were aggrieved over the decision to award a spot-kick for a challenge by Adeyemi on Maxi – the Liverpool player already appeared to be on his way to the floor before any contact was made – Dickov was pleased with the response prior to the third, tie-sealing strike from Shelvey after 68 minutes.

“The third goal killed us,” Dickov added. “At 2-1 down we were still in the game, then we were caught trying to do turns and pass the ball out 20 yards from our own goal.

“You can’t do that against teams like this.

“We didn’t deserve to lose 5-1 and the effort the boys put in matched the effort of our fans, who were great yet again.”