Johnson reveals Ewood anger

Everton striker disappointed after Ewood draw

By Lewis Rutledge   Last updated: 4th February 2008

Andrew Johnson

Johnson: Upset

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Andy Johnson feels Everton were robbed by poor refereeing in the goalless draw against Blackburn.

Johnson thought he had scored a late winner at Ewood Park, only to see his effort ruled out for offside.

Rovers goalkeeper Brad Friedel had rushed out beyond Johnson but replays showed there were still a number of defenders keeping him onside and the Everton man admits he could not understand match official Alan Wiley's explanation.

"He said if the goalkeeper is our side of me, then there needs to be two defenders keeping me onside but there was the goalkeeper and three defenders keeping me onside," Johnson told the Liverpool Echo.

"It's so disappointing as we should have all three points.

Mistake

"It was a perfectly good goal. It's not as if it was a tight decision. I was onside by three or four yards and it is just a bad mistake from the referee.

"We are disappointed because we had a couple of good chances to win it. We dominated the game."

Johnson was also upset that Wiley did not point to the spot when he felt he had been fouled by Zurab Khizanishvili.

"We have had a look at it a few times since and it was a penalty," said Johnson.

"You only have to see that he has kicked out at my knees and he's brought me down. If it happens anywhere else on the pitch, it's a free-kick, so why isn't it a penalty?

"A couple of bad decisions have cost us but there you go. What can you do? That's football."

Moving on

Johnson has urged his team-mates to put the disappointment behind them and clinch the fourth UEFA Champions League spot.

He said: "We wanted to open a gap between us and the teams below us. We just need to make sure that we look forward now and get three points against Reading.

"There is still a lot of work to be done. We have done well to get into fourth place but we won't be sitting around looking at what we've achieved so far.

"We want to get into the Champions League and are determined to finish the job off."