'I said I would dink it and I did'

Savo Milosevic may maintain that Alan Kelly, the Sheffield United goalkeeper, brought him down with his foot for the penalty after he had shrugged off a challenge by Chris Short but the defender believes that if a penalty had been conceded, he and not Kelly, was the guilty party.

"Alan never touched him," Short said. "Milosevic went into the area, I tried to get across and if there was a foul it was by me".

Howard Kendall, the Blades' manager, added: "Alan is adamant he never made contact."

The referee, Alan Wilkie, explained he had pointed to the spot on the advice of the linesman, Ray Gould. "I received a clear signal from my linesman for a trip by Kelly," Wilkie said. "I did not have a clear view of the incident, but the ball was going out of play when Kelly touched Milosevic which was why I did not send him off."

As for his cheeky execution of the penalty Dwight Yorke said: "I told Tommy Johnson I would dink it and that's what I did. I don't like blasting them."

Brian Little, the Villa manager, said: "I don't know what I would have said if Dwight had missed it. They'd probably have had to carry me out in a box."

"As far as we were concerned in the dug-out it was a penalty. It was a bit of a shock to see the way Dwight took it, but I'm just happy it went in."