BURNLEY striker Dimitri Papadopolous hit back at suggestions he was a diver after the controversial penalty he won and converted for Greece Under-21s at Ewood Park last night.

The young striker scored from the spot in his side's 2-1 defeat but the furious home defence felt he had made the most of a couple of challenges in the second half, going to ground too easily.

The controversy came in the last minute when, after cleverly robbing Tottenham's Ledley King of the ball, he bore down on the England goal. As he burst into the area there was contact between the striker and King as he chased back to atone for his error.

Papadopolous went down and the referee pointed to the spot amid heated protests from the England players.

But speaking exclusively to the Evening Telegraph he said: "I tried to get my body between the defender and the ball and he knocked into me. It was a definite penalty."

That was not how England keeper Chris Kirkland saw the incident. The pair had already clashed over a previous challenge when Papadopolous went one on one with the Liverpool player and Kirkland said: "For the first one I just thought he had taken a dive.

"Then I thought he went down a bit too early the second time for the penalty. He went down too easily."

England Under-21 boss David Platt was taking the diplomatic line as he stressed, with a smile, that it was a penalty because the referee had given a penalty.

The penalty was Papadopoulos's third goal in six under-21 games and his second against England. It capped a lively display that saw him giving two Premier League defenders, King and Aston Villa's Gareth Barry, a hard time at the back and he did enough to illustrate why Burnley boss Stan Ternent was willing to invest £500,000 in the youngster in the summer. His club manager was in the stands at Ewood Park and Papadopoulos said: "I am glad that I played well in front of the manager. I now want to see him and shake hands with him.

"It was difficult against the England defenders because they are good players but I enjoyed the battle."

Like the rest of the Greek team he made a slow start but his influence grew as the match wore on. A shot over the bar in the first half was disappointing but after the break he was a real threat.

He forced Kirkland to make a couple of important saves and also produced a number of good flicks and lay-offs as he linked well with his team-mates.

"We didn't start well as a team, we were not good in the first half," he said. "The England team started well, they were very strong and it took us some time to get our rhythm.

"But we listened to the coach at half time and he told us to put more pressure on them and in the second half we were a lot better. But we were going for a goal and left ourselves open and they scored a second goal.

"Even then we did not give up and we kept going but we could not get it back."

Papadopolous had been expected to fly back to Greece for a debriefing session but he confirmed last night he would not have to make the journey home, instead he could stay in Lancashire.

That means he could be available to play in the Clarets reserve game against Oldham at Turf Moor on Wednesday.

His display against England will certainly have whetted the appetite of the Burnley fans who travelled to Ewood last night and he admitted he is ready to launch his Burnley career.

"Will I play on Wednesday, that is up to Stan Ternent," he said. He is certainly determined to show he is ready to challenge for a place in the first team squad.