England boss Roy Hodgson believes Manchester United skipper Wayne Rooney didn’t dive to earn a penalty against Preston North End last night.
Preston goalkeeper Thorsten Stuckmann charged forward in the penalty box and sent Rooney tumbling down to concede a penalty, which the England captain duly converted in the 88th minute to seal a 3-1 victory for his side at Deepdale. Replays however showed that there was no contact between Rooney and the goalkeeper.
The goalkeeper suggested to the referee that he didn’t make contact with the Manchester United captain, but Phil Dowd was having none of it and the German was yellow carded for the offence.
Hodgson defended his England skipper and said that Dowd made the right call as most referees would have awarded a penalty for the incident.
He also added that Rooney didn’t dive and was only trying to take evasive action to avoid a two-footed challenge from the Preston custodian.
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"If you are a referee in the run of play without replays I don't think any of us would have said it is not a penalty”, the England manager told the BBC.
"The goalkeeper has gone with both feet. Wayne has touched it past him."
Preston manager Simon Grayson also feels the Manchester United captain didn’t dive and also didn’t challenge the referee’s call to award a penalty to the Red Devils, but believes there was no contact between his goalkeeper and Rooney.
"I am not saying it wasn't a penalty. I'm saying there was no contact”, the Preston boss said.
"It wasn't a dive. He's gone to get out of the way and take evasive action."
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