He said: "People can say what they like but unless you are here all the time you don't know what is going on. The surgeon said Cress can't play Saturday and Monday. He wanted to play but it wouldn't have been the right thing to do. He's given us a lot and I didn't want to lose him for the last four games.
"He was playing before with a real bad knee problem and had to have the operation and it's still getting better. I had to stop him from playing otherwise he could have finished his career.
"He would be limping in training and in a lot of pain but would insist, 'I'm fine gaffer.' You don't get many players like him. He would die for the cause but I won't allow him to cripple himself. Despite the position we were in it would not have been fair to Cress to play him."