Whittle defends conduct

Justin Whittle has claimed he did not deliberately elbow Alan Shearer.

Grimsby defender Justin Whittle has claimed he did not deliberately elbow Alan Shearer in Wednesday's heated Carling Cup encounter with Newcastle.

Former England captain Shearer needed three stitches in a mouth wound following a clash with Whittle.

Shearer, who scored the only goal of the game in Newcastle's win, was angered by the challenge and claimed he needed to show tremendous restraint not to seek retribution.

The Mariners have defended their skipper and Whittle says he has no case to answer.

"There was nothing deliberate in what I did," Whittle told The Sun. "I have nothing to apologise for and my track record backs me up.

"We both jumped for the ball. I went with my arms up and caught him in the face and he's moaned his head off at the referee - he wasn't happy about it.

"Shearer spent the whole of the game trying to wind me up. As you can see from TV, Shearer got me early in the match. I just turned around and got on with it.

"Tough battles are part of the game. It's my job to defend and I thought I did well against him."

Shearer is still smarting, but does not believe there is any benefit in urging The FA to review the incident.

He said: "I'm still angry about the incident but I'm not really bothered if anyone wants to have a look at it again.

"What good would that be to me or Newcastle United? To be honest, I hope nothing happens because I'm not like that. I don't like to see that going on."