The only thing that stopped him were the traffic lights

Last updated : 01 May 2005 By Tony Scholes

Plymouth’s boss is hardly popular with the fans who don’t like his direct approach, and it’s been a difficult year for them on their long travels with fifteen of the away games lost.

Williamson focussed on that and seemed to be suggesting they were at a disadvantage because of their south west base, I wonder if he ever uses it as a reason for good home results?

“It shows you how difficult it is for us to travel,” Williamson said. “I’m sure the fans are knackered by the time they get to games so you can imagine how the players are, and they have still got to go out and perform.

“We’re exploring every avenue, trying to make it better for us next season. We can improve it, and I’m hoping we can improve our away form next year.”

Onto the game and he added, “It would have been 0-0 if the penalty hadn’t come along. We certainly had a go, we attacked them and their goalkeeper’s had a good save putting the ball on to the post from Nick Chadwick, and a good save from Stevie Milne’s header late on.

“We caught them on the break a couple of times and made the wrong decisions, played the wrong passes and that’s the disappointing aspect of it. Defenders were on top and I don’t think either team allowed the other team a lot of chances.”

Williamson was not happy with the performance of referee Tony Bates and neither was he pleased with his own goalkeeper Luke McCormick. “The referee called the penalty. He’s the one who makes the decisions,” he said. I think he got a lot wrong today and he acknowledged that at half time.

“He said he had made a mistake when the linesman gave us a free kick on the edge of the box when he decided to play on and we immediately lost possession. In my book you can always take it back and change your mind because there is no advantage gained. On the edge of the box we want those decisions.


“As for Luke McCormick, he was silly pushing the boy Akibiyi and the boy was just as stupid for falling over. I don’t understand players who do these stupid things. It can be very costly at times.

“I don’t think it is violent pushing someone, and to be fair I think the boy went down very easily. He’s a big lad and I’ve seen him stand up under provocation before. Players do these things and I don’t necessarily agree with them.”

He ended with some sympathy for the travelling fans saying, “You want to win football matches, our fans pay good money and we’ve not rewarded them with a victory today.”

Steve Cotterill agreed with Williamson in his judgement of the game and thought it was heading for a goalless draw.

“It was an end to end game but it looked like being a draw because no one had the cutting edge,” Steve admitted after the game.

“Both formations were the same so we were getting to a stage of cancelling each other out and that’s why we change things and brought on both John Oster and Jean-Louis Valois. The change might have helped us a little bit but the game could have gone either way.”

Looking at the penalty he added, “I suppose it evened up the penalty down there although I wouldn’t have banked on us getting a penalty today,” and in contrast to Williamson’s view he said, “I thought the referee did well today though. It wasn’t an easy game to referee and there was a lot going on out there with two competitive sides.”

And the second goal, “It was a great goal by Ginge although I was shouting – pass it – pass it – pass it – pass it – great goal. The only thing that stopped him were the traffic lights outside, but he’s got that boundless energy to keep going. For sheer endeavour today he deserved that goal.”

He thanked the fans for the support during the match and got the ovations at the end. “It was great today,” he said. “It’s amazing what the crowd can do because if they had been quiet today we might well have lost.

“They kept us going and pushed us all the way. The crowd is so important and they were fantastic today, so I thank them for that.”

And finally to Gary Cahill. “It is bordering on sad really,” he admitted. “I think when you have young players and you lose one it is like the feeling of one of your kids leaving home. We’ve got another week of him though and we’ll enjoy that and I’m sure he’ll enjoy it too.

“He’s had a great platform and the kid is an absolute diamond. I hope his career only goes on the up because it couldn’t happen to a nicer lad. He looked a little emotional at the end, but that was great for him.”