Doncaster Rovers: Grant McCann on 'embarrassing' Huddersfield Town tactic that needs 'sorting out'
Doncaster Rovers manager Grant McCann believes the football authorities need to clamp down on the issue of in-game tactical stoppages.
Rovers were well in command away at Huddersfield Town last night when, midway through the first half, home goalkeeper Owen Goodman suddenly went down in his area. He was then seen to by the home team's physios in a stoppage that lasted a couple of minutes. That dead time allowed the hosts to regroup and get a pep talk from their manager, at a time when Rovers were threatening to overwhelm Huddersfield.
Such a tactic has become a common scene in the English game over recent years. McCann, whose side would ultimately fall to a 2-0 defeat in West Yorkshire, labelled the practice "embarrassing".
He told the media post-match: "Huddersfield fake an injury to the goalkeeper after 25, 30 minutes which needs to be sorted out. It's embarrassing. I don't know how people do that, I don't get it.
"The referee association need to sort something out there because that just can't happen. We could easily go 1-0 up and I could do that 10 times. That's how ridiculous it could get.
"They need to do something about it. Honestly, it happens all the time. I could name you the managers who do it - I'm not going to do that now. I could name you those who do it, particularly in League Two last year. It's just ridiculous, honestly. But it is what it is."
When asked by the Free Press if he had any suggestions to fix the problem, McCann replied: "The most embarrassing thing is their manager (Lee Grant) told him to go down. It's annoying.
"I don't know what they (authorities) can do about it though. I really don't but I know they're looking into it such as if a goalkeeper goes down and gets treatment then an outfield player has to go off - I don't know whether that's an option for them because it'll just get to a stage when teams, when they're in the lead, will just do it all the time."
Meanwhile, McCann confirmed that the withdrawal of midfielder George Broadbent was due to the fact he was walking a disciplinary tightrope. Broadbent was booked shortly after half-time and after a few close calls, McCann was taking no chances in replacing him.
"He was on the verge of being sent off and the last thing we wanted was to go down to ten men," explained the Northern Irishman. "He had a couple of tackles where the referee looked at him so if he'd have made one more then he'd have been off."