Notts County winger Callum Roberts has set the record straight on his night of play-off agony as he explained his early substitution in the defeat to Grimsby.
The former Newcastle winger had to be replaced by Eli Sam after just 20 minutes in the quarter-final clash as Ian Burchnall's side lost 2-1 after extra time.
Roberts punched the ground in frustration at having to go off which many had presumed was the result of a knock he sustained earlier in the game. But he has now addressed the situation in a social media post on Twitter had said he wanted to respond to fans who were calling him "injury prone."
"A real cruel and sad way to play my final game of the season," he wrote. "I am gutted for everyone associated with the club that we fell short again but these things happen in football and we now have to come back even stronger.
"I'd just like to address some of the fans who are now calling me injury prone again. Before the game I took an injection to get me through 120 minutes of football. Unfortunately, this didn't go to plan and numbed my whole leg and foot which meant I wasn't able to run and kick properly.
"But to end on a positive note I'd like to thank the fans for their continued support all season. It's been amazing."
Notts had looked on course to seal victory over the Mariners having taken the lead through Ruben Rodrigues' penalty with 20 minutes remaining.
But with the last kick of normal time, Gavin Holohan scrambled in the equaliser after Jayden Richardson conceded a needless free-kick.
Mani Dieseruvwe then broke Notts' hearts with two minutes remaining of extra time as the Magpies were consigned to another season in the National League. Reflecting on a disappointing night, Burchnall said: "It's a cruel way to lose a game. For 90 minutes I thought we were great.
"There was nothing between the two teams. Both played their part in a very entertaining game. They equalised with the very last kick of the game, they throw everyone forward and it's chaos. I actually thought we handled it well and it could have gone either way.
"I thought the boys were fantastic. We lost Callum early on and had to adapt quickly and I thought we did that well. I've seen the last goal and it looks offside which is frustrating and maybe it was going to be something like that which decided the game."
