04 December 2023 , 10:46
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Ally McCoist has admitted he smiled at referee Simon Hooper's howler during stoppage time of Manchester City's draw with Tottenham.
Dejan Kulusevski scored a header in the last minute of stoppage time to equalise for the visitors. But City were denied a huge chance to steal a win when Erling Haaland sent a ball forward to winger Jack Grealish.
Haaland had been fouled before he made his pass, but got back up to hit it forward as Hooper played advantage. The pass was designed for Grealish to run onto it, which he looked likely to do, but Hooper pulled play back for a free-kick for the original foul on Haaland.
That incensed the City players, with Haaland holding his head in his hands as he confronted Hooper. While the hosts were angry though, McCoist has now admitted to having a sense of happiness around the incident.
"Do you know what I thought, I promise you, I actually watched it and I had a wee smile across my face. I don't know why, nothing against Manchester City because he made a mistake," the Rangers legend told talkSPORT.
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"But there was just something refreshing about watching the referee Simon Hooper make a howler in the final couple of minutes with no VAR involved. It was just a genuine mistake by a referee who got it wrong.
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Ally McCoist has admitted smiling at Simon Hooper's howler against Spurs which left Manchester City furious (Getty Images)"And you know what's cheered me up this morning? Listening to Ruben Dias. That's cheered me up this morning. In an age where there's a lot of finger pointing at this and that, I thought Ruben Dias' reaction in that interview where he said 'referee made a mistake but that's the way it goes'.
"That's what it was. I thought it was magic, there was something refreshing about it. Did he make a mistake? You better believe he made a mistake. Manchester City, their supporters and Pep entitled to feel aggrieved a little bit, yes. However, it was just an honest mistake, let's get on with it."
The interview that McCoist referenced from Dias came immediately after the game. But the City defender attempted to shrug off Hooper's howler and instead focused on his side's weaknesses both going forward and in defence.
"It's difficult for us. It’s the same feeling as Liverpool - a game we could have won by four or five but in the end, small margins and these things can happen. The team did think the performance was good in many levels," he told Sky Sports.
"Obviously, we conceded the goals but still the attitude, the way we played, the aggression. Unfortunately, we couldn't get the three points, it's frustrating. The only way now is to keep moving forwards.
"Obviously, we can talk about chances that we need to make goals out of, we can also talk about goals we can't concede but in the end it's a mix of all of it. The feeling we will leave the pitch with today is a bit of a frustrating feeling."