TOWN'S tower of strength John McGreal praised his fellow defenders for grinding out an important point in the face of adversity at the New Den.The Blues defender was pivotal in holding out the rampant Lions but pointed to the team's own indomintable spirit in holding on after losing fellow centre back Georges Santos.

By Derek Davis

TOWN'S tower of strength John McGreal praised his fellow defenders for grinding out an important point in the face of adversity at the New Den.

The Blues defender was pivotal in holding out the rampant Lions but pointed to the team's own indomintable spirit in holding on after losing fellow centre back Georges Santos.

He said: "The character of the team shone through again and we dug deep and in the end we got a fantastic point.

"The last 10 minutes were frantic as they sent their big defenders up front and we slinging the ball in from everywhere but we held out.

"Then when Quigley has spun and hit the ball past Kelvin I thought all our hard work had been wasted but Fabian was on the line and has headed it clear."

McGreal was less than happy with the effect player-manager Dennis Wise had on referee Iain Williamson when he went on after 18 minutes.

McGreal said: "As soon as Dennis Wise came on the pitch the referee lost the game. He has been totally influenced by the player being on the pitch and it showed that by the decisions that went against us. Even little challenges when we were going for the ball he gave them the benefit of the doubt.

"The referee was intimidated by Wise and the other players started getting to him as well.

"We started well but when Wise came on things got changed around. He is an old pro and gets into people's ears and the referee fell for it."

After early chances fell to Shefki Kuqi and Darren Bent, Town's opportunities dried up and changes were made at half-time to perk things up.

McGreal said: "We have come in even at half-time and before that we were playing fantastically well early on. They changed their system after 20 minutes to combat us and we went a little flat. The game was turned on its head with that decision which was incredibly harsh.

"Georges has let the lad go past him and stood there with his arms in the air because he has nicked the ball past him but then the lad has gone down instead of just carrying on.

"I just can't see why he had to give him a yellow card for that especially as it led to a sending off.

"A couple of important decisions went against us.

"It was the same when their keeper stayed on.

"He has handled it in his area and the momentum has taken him out and he has handled it otherwise Pablo would have been on to it and slotted it into the net."

McGreal suffered an injury scare during the week after picking up a slight strain during training but it never showed in a superb performance. He said: "I came through with no problems and felt nothing at all in the second half."