West Ham United co-chairman David Sullivan has defended calamity goalkeeper Robert Green.

Sullivan said the Hammers man was unfairly vilified for his high-profile howler, which led to England drawing their opening game 1-1 in Rustenburg.

He said: "Sadly these things happen in football. It's unfortunate that if a goalkeeper makes an error it is so visible.

"In contrast, Heskey's failure to convert a one-on-one shot was equally important but he gets just one per cent of the flak Robert Green got."