Gaz: I'd have given them a goal (From Bucks Free Press)

Gaz: I'd have given them a goal

9:56am Wednesday 13th March 2013 in Sport By Andy Carswell

BLUES boss Gareth Ainsworth said he would have let Rotherham walk the ball into the net had Dean Morgan scored when Wanderers were trying to return the ball to their opponents.

Morgan was inadvertently put clean through on goal when Sam Wood smacked the ball down the pitch after play had been stopped so the injured Charles Dunne could receive treatment.

The Wanderers striker was denied by a great save from Millers keeper Andy Warrington but his actions provoked an angry reaction.

Visiting manager Steve Evans was left incandescent with rage and Morgan was immediately surrounded by fuming Rotherham players, who felt the striker should have left the ball.

Ainsworth said he was left red faced by the incident but added he would have let Rotherham score from the resulting kick off had Morgan tucked the chance away.

He said: "I would have let Rotherham kick off and score. However much I want the points, I think it would have been the right thing to do.

"It was totally innocent, there was no bad blood in that at all.

"Deano's asleep at the best of times on the pitch. I've asked him about it and Deano actually thought it was a free kick. He didn't see the drop ball and Sam Wood volley it up, he thought it was from a free kick and thought he was in.

"Credit to the keeper Warrington, he's saved a great one on one there. I'm sure the gaffer will be very happy with him.

"I got a bit of an earful from Steve Evans but if they had scored I would have done the right thing and let Rotherham score to even it up.

"I don't know what Deano was thinking but it was quite a comedy moment. At the time it didn't feel too good - I did feel a bit bad.

"He didn't mean any malice by it. He was the first one to hold his hands up and say he thought it was a free kick."

But the Blues boss thought the incident played into Rotherham's hands, with the promotion chasing visitors scoring within minutes of Morgan's moment of indiscretion.

That made the score 2-1 to the Yorkshire club, with Gary Doherty's late header ensuring a share of the spoils for Blues.

Ainsworth said: "I think it got Rotherham's tails up. They were fired up after that, thinking we'd done it on purpose, but that happens. We got punished for Dean falling asleep.

"Dean Morgan's a fantastic player, a bit of a maverick, and sometimes he's in his own world, and that was certainly one moment tonight."