Mark Kennedy defends Freckleton's handball as 'human error'

Goals from Joseph Olowu and Joe Ironside denied Swindon a point at the County Ground on Saturday as a four-game unbeaten run in all competitions came to an end.

One of the main talking points from the tie was the way the Robins lost the game, as Ironside netted from the spot after Freckleton was penalised for a handball.

When discussing the incident, the Irishman described the situation and explained how he viewed it from his angle.

He said: “It was a clear handball, I seen that myself. When it happened, I thought Jesus, that’s a penalty.

“When I watched it back, there’s normally a nudge or a bump where you’re caught off balance but I actually think there’s a lot of things.

“Again, I’m talking about roles and responsibilities which we can do better, there’s so many mistakes within it [the game] with individuals, without going into too much detail.

“I don’t feel Miguel should have been in that situation where he was defending the ball in the first place, so look – it’s a mistake, it’s a human error.

“It wasn’t done intentionally; I always say to anybody when something happens ‘did you do it on purpose? No? Okay, Jesus don’t worry about it, it’s a mistake.”

Joe Ironside's goal in stoppage time (Image: Andy Crook)

Kennedy then described how important it is to not have a ‘blame culture’ within the squad despite errors.

“It’s so important we don’t have a blame culture, that we don’t pick on individuals.

“Our job is to work hard and continue to do it. What I’m saying to you is that it’s pretty obvious what the problem has been and it’s been different individuals in each one [each game].

“I’m a lot more experienced, I’ve just looked at the clock and I thought, ‘I know what I’m doing, there’s a minute left, I don’t care what anyone else is doing, I don’t care what happens’.

“I’m not coming in after the game and having a conversation with the manager, that’s all I think."

The former Liverpool winger then expressed the desire for more leadership in the current squad, an issue that Town have had in previous seasons.

“I think we need a little bit more ownership, a little bit more leadership throughout the group.

“There’s little things you can do, I used to put an extreme amount of pressure on myself on set pieces by screaming and shouting at everybody else saying ‘Don’t you dare let your man go, don’t you dare let him score, don’t you dare let him get away from you’.

“Basically what I was saying to myself was, don’t have a go at everyone else.”