Ferdinand defends Cole blunder

England skipper Rio Ferdinand has defended Ashley Cole after the Chelsea ace’s blunder against Kazakhstan on Saturday.

Cole handed Kazakhstan their goal after missing with a pass during on Saturday and was booed by the England crowd even though they won 5-1.

Ferdinand blasted the boo-boys after the match.

He said: “Hopefully, the people who booed Ashley will go home and reflect on it and feel a bit ashamed of themselves.

“It’s disappointing. When any player makes a mistake all you want to do is get behind him and make sure his next touch sees him get it off his back so he gets back into the game.

“But it does not help when the fans are booing one of your own players.

“I actually think Ashley played well today — other than that one blip that he made. But everyone makes mistakes and you just have got to get on with it.

“The reaction was disappointing in that I thought the fans had been very, very good to us up until then. They were very positive, made themselves heard — and that was good.

“Then that happened. Obviously players make mistakes, we’re all human — and some people showed a little bit of ignorance and immaturity.

“It was probably the only sour point of the night. I know it is our job to keep fans happy by playing a winning game but what happened was a pity.”

He added: “You rally round. Ashley’s been around a long time and played many times for England. We’re always there to offer advice and there were a lot of lads back there geeing him up and patting him on the back. After all, we all make mistakes.”

[Source: News of the World]