De Canio remains cautious

Manager wary despite position

By Amanda Cornforth   Last updated: 15th March 2008

Luigi De Canio

De Canio: Wary

Related links

Teams

Players

Also see

QPR boss Luigi De Canio insists his team are not yet safe from relegation despite their 3-1 win at home to struggling Scunthorpe.

Grant McCann put the visitors ahead but Martin Rowlands equalised with a penalty, and second-half goals from Patrick Agyemang and Rowan Vine left 12th-placed Rangers seven points away from the top six.

But De Canio said: "I didn't think reaching the play-offs was possible before this game and I haven't changed my mind.

"And while some might say relegation is not possible either, I know from personal experience that is not yet the case.

"When I was at Siena in Italy, we were bottom of Serie A and Bologna were in the Uefa Cup places. We stayed up and in the end it was Bologna that went down."

Controversy

Agyemang had earlier found the net before he scored but was denied a goal by an offside flag before Rangers eventually equalised in controversial circumstances.

Vine seemed to be tackled fairly by Izzy Iriekpen as he attempted to latch onto Rowlands' through ball, but a penalty was awarded and Rowlands made no mistake with his spot-kick as he sent keeper Joe Murphy the wrong way.

Disappointment

Scunthorpe boss Nigel Adkins claimed referee Mike Thorpe's decision to award Rangers a penalty changed the game.

Adkins said: "It wasn't a penalty. We were doing well and then that decision went against us, but I have to be careful what I say.

"It's not the first time this season that kind of thing has happened to us and we are very disappointed indeed.

"Consistently this season we have played good football and yet again a decision has gone against us. We've not had much luck.

"We want to play football the right way and have shown we can do that and compete in this division, but it's all about winning and picking up points.

"The turning point today was the penalty. We feel hard done by."