Sheffield Wednesday: Owls ace Lees backs red-card Beckford

Substitutes Beckford and Doyle came to blows in Saturday’s clash after Doyle failed to play Beckford in as they pressed for a late leveller. The duo were both red-carded by referee Scott Duncan.

Lees, who knows Beckford from their days together at Leeds United, said: “It was his passion to try and get the next goal.

“There was a disagreement on whether the ball should have been passed, but Jermaine is a really good guy and these things do happen.

“You don’t want to see that, but it took the sting out of the game and helped us out.”

Strikes either side of half-time by Fernando Forestieri, who was also dismissed, and a Steven Fletcher penalty lifted the Owls back into the Championship’s top six. Doyle’s 82nd-minute goal ultimately proved to be just a consolation.

Lees said: “It was a pretty crazy game, a shame really because we have been under pressure the last few weeks, especially at home and I thought we started the game really well.

“We tried to be positive, close the opposition down really well, and all the carry-ons in the second half spoiled the game. It was scrappy and we were lucky when their incident happened as it helped us, relieve the pressure. We just have to carry how we played in the first half into the next game. It was a big win for us.”

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