Pickford: The referee may have been influenced by an earlier decision.

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Publication date: Sunday, September 6, 2020 10:16

Jordan Pickford believes referee Srdjan Jovanovic may have been trying to level the score when he awarded Iceland an injury time penalty when England outlasted 10 men. wins their first Nations League match 1-0 in Reykjavik.

A monotonous encounter came to life in the final stages when Raheem Sterling won and converted a last-minute penalty.

Sverrir Ingason received a second yellow card for his handball infraction when awarding the penalty, as England had already sent off Kyle Walker for two yellowable infractions early in the second half.

OPINION: Players’ rating: Iceland 0-1 England

The drama did not end there, as Iceland attacked directly from the kickoff after Sterling’s pitch and received a penalty of their own, as Joe Gomez was tried for knocking Holmbert Fridjonsson to the ground.

However, unlike Sterling, Birkir Bjarnason couldn’t keep his cool and took the resulting penalty high and out of Pickford’s goal, and the England goalkeeper felt that official Jovanovic had been tempted to equalize the odds.

“I think Joe did great the whole game and they brought in a big guy for the last five minutes and there are a lot of bodies around him so it was tough for Joe,” Pickford said.

“With a penalty on the other side, I haven’t seen it back, but I think the referee could have made an early decision to just give it to him. But luckily we came away with one, a clean sheet and a 1-0 win for us away from home, which is good. “

Despite Iceland winning their late penalty, Pickford did not face a shot on goal the entire match, as England enjoyed 78 percent possession.

The 26-year-old has been criticized for his recent club-level shows for Everton, but was satisfied with the afternoon’s work for his country and believes that the challenge posed by a determined Iceland is something that can help England to to get better.

“I didn’t have much to do. It was one of those games where you have to focus and be ready for anything, ”he said.

“I think in the first half I had to deal with a cross, and I came for the cross and handled it well, but that’s what you have to do.

“Sometimes those games happen and, as a goalkeeper, they are the ones you need to be more mentally fired up for 95 minutes.

“They haven’t lost many home games and we just needed to show resilience and be patient, and the coach said to be patient, to continue to tire them out and we will have a chance.

“For that the game is very good because you learn from them as a team and you learn from them and we have to improve. It’s still preseason for a lot of us and it’s a good physical condition for us, and also a great result.

Pickford said manager Gareth Southgate has yet to tell him whether he will keep the gloves for Tuesday’s Nations League game in Denmark or give Nick Pope or Dean Henderson a chance to impress.

“He hasn’t told us about anything. I think we all train hard every day and it’s fantastic,” Pickford added. “We have had a great week and whatever happens will happen.

“The main thing for us was to get a result against Iceland. We will talk about the game and recover, but for me, we have not been told anything. “



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