World Cup 2010

Republic Of Ireland's Kevin Kilbane Demands Replay Against France

Tigers midfielder calls for justice...

19-Nov-2009 3:58:14 PM

More On : France, Ireland Republic, Kevin Kilbane

Kevin Kilbane has demanded that the Republic of Ireland's World Cup qualifying play-off against France be replayed after Thierry Henry's handball in the run-up to the winning goal.

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William Gallas scored in extra-time to win the game after Henry clearly controlled the ball with his hand before crossing.

And the Hull City utility man is convinced that the result should not stand and the game should be replayed.

"Well, I'd like to think it would be replayed and I think everyone in the squad would like it replayed," he told talkSPORT.

The Hull player insists the manner of their World Cup exit is a "major disappointment" for Giovanni Trapattoni's squad.

"You see for yourself he's handballed it once and it's still going out of play so he's handled it again to make sure it doesn't go out of play.

"And you know what? I asked him on the pitch, 'Did you handball it?' and he said, 'Yes, but I didn't mean it.' But when I've seen the replay it's there for all to see that we were let down. It's a massive disappointment for us all here.

"I saw it [the handball] clear as day. I went over to the referee after the game had finished and I asked him what happened and if he'd seen the handball. He said, 'I can 100 per cent say it wasn't handball'.

"When he said that to me I knew full well that he was just lying to me because he hadn't even seen it. That was the worst thing about it, we feel really hard done by.

"It will be worse in a couple of weeks' time when the draw is made. We'll have to lift ourselves up again. We can hold our heads up high because we played so well and we should have won the game and that's the ultimate disappointment. We played so well, but we can't come back [to the UK and Ireland] knowing we're going to a World Cup in the summer."

Zack Wilson