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Emile Heskey was disappointed to see Bolton Wanderers cursing yet another late goal as they slipped to defeat against Norwich City on Saturday.
The veteran forward completed the full 90 minutes for Neil Lennon’s side as one of the Northern Irishman’s former players at Celtic – Gary Hooper – came back to haunt him at Macron Stadium.
Frustrated by the manner of the defeat, Heskey was determined to make the recurring feeling a thing of the past, starting with Tuesday’s clash against Charlton Athletic.
“It’s disappointing, we battled so hard throughout the game to get ourselves level,” the former England international said. “We could have nicked another goal but ended up losing in the last minute again.
“It’s so difficult to take. It’s happened a few times now – we need to re-evaluate and have a look at it.
“We were putting the pressure on them but that is when you really need to be aware because that is when teams are more likely to be hitting you on the break.
“It happens, it is part of the game but we have to address it. Stoppage-time is when your concentration needs to be at its highest – when teams are pushing forward, putting pressure on you and looking to nick a goal.
“But it only becomes a physiological issue if we let it. We have good players so it shouldn’t affect us too much, but we do need to sit down and address it.”
Heskey continued: “If we’d drawn or won then yes, the performance would offer some consolation but it doesn’t when you lose.
“We can say that we scored a goal and could have gone on to win it, but at the end of the day we didn’t.
“Now we look ahead to Charlton on Tuesday. You always want games to come thick and fast after a loss, and that’s what we’ve got here.
“Hopefully we’ll go out and rectify what went wrong today and return to winning ways.”
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The veteran forward completed the full 90 minutes for Neil Lennon’s side as one of the Northern Irishman’s former players at Celtic – Gary Hooper – came back to haunt him at Macron Stadium.
Frustrated by the manner of the defeat, Heskey was determined to make the recurring feeling a thing of the past, starting with Tuesday’s clash against Charlton Athletic.
“It’s disappointing, we battled so hard throughout the game to get ourselves level,” the former England international said. “We could have nicked another goal but ended up losing in the last minute again.
“It’s so difficult to take. It’s happened a few times now – we need to re-evaluate and have a look at it.
“We were putting the pressure on them but that is when you really need to be aware because that is when teams are more likely to be hitting you on the break.
“It happens, it is part of the game but we have to address it. Stoppage-time is when your concentration needs to be at its highest – when teams are pushing forward, putting pressure on you and looking to nick a goal.
“But it only becomes a physiological issue if we let it. We have good players so it shouldn’t affect us too much, but we do need to sit down and address it.”
Heskey continued: “If we’d drawn or won then yes, the performance would offer some consolation but it doesn’t when you lose.
“We can say that we scored a goal and could have gone on to win it, but at the end of the day we didn’t.
“Now we look ahead to Charlton on Tuesday. You always want games to come thick and fast after a loss, and that’s what we’ve got here.
“Hopefully we’ll go out and rectify what went wrong today and return to winning ways.”
[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]