VIDEO: Roy Hodgson’s defence of Wayne Rooney’s dive is not very believable

How not to defend the indefensible

Gaizka Mendieta called it afterwards on Twitter and he wasn't the only one to be annoyed at Wayne Rooney's clear dive to win a a penalty in last night's 3-1 win over Preston in the FA Cup by Manchester United The England man made the most of a non-contact challenge to win the spot-kick, and secure passage to the q-finals of the cup where they'll face Arsenal. Rooney came tumbling to earth after he rode the challenge of goalkeeper Thorsten Stuckmann by jumping out of the way, and Phil Dowd for some bizarre reason decided to give a penalty. The ex Spain international called out Rooney in an great 'pot-kettle-black' tweet after the game, https://twitter.com/GaizkaMendieta6/status/567451897154764802 Meanwhile back in the BBC studio Roy Hodgson,Kevin Kilbane and Phil Neville got into a discussion about the rights and wrongs of the situation and how it was or wasn't a penalty. And Roy's explanation was a little bizarre to say the least. He described Rooney as having to take 'evasive action' like he was in Top Gun or something, and so a penalty was the right decision because if he didn't fall to the floor he would have been hit by the 'keeper and so it would have been a more obvious penalty. Makes sense? No,us either but then Rooney is one of Woy's favourite players and he was hardly going to hang him out to dry like the rest of the world did last night. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CPDzTh31Xec H/T to 101greatgoals