Theo Walcott has admitted diving in an attempt to rescue Arsenal from an FA Cup defeat against Leeds United.
The Gunners were losing 1-0 to Leeds United in the 87th minute when Walcott was fouled by Alex Bruce, with referee Phil Dowd originally appearing to award a spot-kick before the linesman's flag went up for offside.
Speaking after the game Walcott said: "I thought [Dowd] did give the penalty to be honest. I just want to apologise to the managers, I actually dived trying to win the penalty.
"I said to one of their players would you have done it if it was the last few minutes and he said he I probably would have done it.
"I'm not the sort of player to do it, I own up to that and I apologise for that. It's one of those things that I don't like to see in my game. I've heard some people say if you feel just a slight touch you should go down so it can work both ways.
"I'm not happy with myself for doing that but I'm happy that we got the draw in the end. [Alex Bruce] was fine about it. Whether he knew if it was a penalty I don't know but I said sorry I'm trying to win the game. I had a little bit of a laugh and a joke with the referee afterwards saying that's the first dive I've ever done can you tell?"
