The decision cost us the match

Last updated : 07 April 2003 By Martyn Elliott

Sir Bobby

"It was a massive defeat and has killed our chances. We were hovering around waiting for Arsenal or Manchester United to make a mistake but this defeat kills any realistic hopes of that.

"We won't give it up but it now looks like being a fight between ourselves and Chelsea for third place.

"I thought for a moment that the lad (Olivier Bernard) had a broken leg, he was hit mid-thigh.

"But the decision in the end cost us the match and has probably cost us any chance we had of the title.

"In the circumstances I'm not sure my lads would have kicked it out either.

"But frankly the referee could have taken control. If he'd given the free-kick or stopped the play when someone was injured then the situation wouldn't have arisen.

"The poor fella probably won't sleep because it was an obvious foul and could have been a red card because the lad had already been booked.

"I didn't even see the penalty decision myself because I was watching Bernard on the floor."

David Moyes

"I did say we were sorry, we were trying to get instructions out from the line to stop the play but in the noise of Goodison Park the lads didn't hear.

"It had been a free-kick and the referee hadn't given it. But it must be understood that we had to get past a lot of players from a long way out to even get the penalty.

"In the end you keep playing when you are attacking and keep playing when you are defending and our lads did the right thing to keep going. I did apologise to Bobby, but that's football, we've had a few rough decisions against us this season.

"If we had lost we'd probably have been out of the hunt for a Champions League spot.

"We went out there aiming to consolidate our place in the UEFA Cup but now we aim to go right to the wire with Chelsea for fourth place."