LEE CLARK hailed Jordan Rhodes’ goal as “worthy of winning any game”.
And he refused to criticise the top scorer over his second-half penalty miss at Bristol Rovers.
The top scorer, only named in the starting side when Gary Roberts pulled out after feeling ill during the warm-up, netted for the 18th time this season just five minutes into the match.
“It was a great goal from a very good player,” said Clark, who agreed a contract extension through to 2015 with Rhodes on the eve of the game.
Of the 54th-minute spot-kick miss, after a handball by Rovers defender Danny Coles, Clark said: “I didn’t see the penalty. I don’t like to watch them.
“But I saw our fans with their heads in their hands, and that’s just the way it is.
“Jordan had the bottle to take the penalty, and while you’d like to think it ends up in the back of the net, if it doesn’t there are no accusations from me.
“The last 15 minutes needn’t have been like they were, but not because of the penalty.
“We had no need to lash the ball about – we should have played to our strengths.
“We got pushed back a bit, which was a little disappointing, but we expected them to come at us at some stage.”
Of the two late disallowed Bristol goals, the first a long throw by James Tunnicliffe which slipped through keeper Alex Smithies’ grasp and the second a close-range shot by Will Hoskins, who was ruled offside, the boss admitted: “When you see the ball hit the net, you fear the worst.
“But it did look like Alex was hit and lost his balance for the first, while the flag went up for the second.
“Bristol will be upset, but it’s swings and roundabouts, because we’ve been on the end of some disappointing decisions ourselves at times this season.”
Clark handed 18-year-old Aidan Chippendale his debut as a 64th-minute replacement for Danny Cadamarteri and said: “His pace proved useful.”
