Phillips frustrated with officials after semi-final loss
Kevin Phillips unhappy with officials
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Saturday, 05, Apr 2008 08:27
Veteran West Brom striker Kevin Phillips was a bitter man after his side's FA Cup semi-final defeat at the hands of Portsmouth today.
Phillips was angry at the officials after they failed to penalise Pompey striker Milan Baros for handball in the lead up to the only goal of the game from Kanu.
"You know what these officials are like, they tend to bottle it a little bit in these big games," said the former England international.
"I'm gutted, I don't think we deserved to lose. We can hold our heads up high, Portsmouth have been very lucky."
Championship side West Brom were more than a match for their Premier League opponents and Phillips felt his team had shown they were a "quality footballing team" who had a good chance of making it to the top level of English football next season.
West Brom manager Tony Mowbray admitted afterwards that he hadn't seen the controversial handball incident but thought Portsmouth deserved their win.
"I've no complaints - they are defensively a very well set-up team and the experience they have at the back is invaluable to them. They are an exceptional team," said Mowbray.
"Our priority now is the league - we have six very important league fixtures to play and we will try to ply our trade in the Premier League next year."
West Brom are well-placed at fourth place in the Championship, only three points behind league leaders Bristol City with a game in hand.