Football: Dalglish gives little away about disciplining Gillespie

KENNY DALGLISH commended his Newcastle players for bouncing back after a week of criticism to book their place in the FA Cup semi-finals for the first time in 24 years.

The Magpies made headlines for all the wrong reasons last week after an incident during a club trip to Dublin.

Winger Keith Gillespie needed stitches in a head wound after an alleged incident with Alan Shearer, but Dalglish revealed that the Northern Ireland winger would have missed the victory over Barnsley because of illness anyway.

"The boys have had a little bit of stick all week but you can't question their attitude or commitment," Dalglish said. "We've been proud of the players but the things that have gone on during the week are things that nobody can accept. But it happened and they have to pay the penalty, and if paying the penalty means getting to the semi-final then we'll go to Dublin next week!"

Gillespie was also involved in an incident in Gateshead on Friday after which he was arrested by police.

"Even if he hadn't had diarrhoea, there is a possibility that Gillespie wouldn't have played anyway," Dalglish said. "We have said all we want to say. Discipline is a private matter and I've always dealt with it in- house.

The Barnsley manager, Danny Wilson, criticised Adie Moses' sending-off and the Magpies' first goal scored by Temuri Ketsbaia. "I'm still convinced he was offside and I though it was a ridiculous sending-off," he said.