Fernando Forestieri under fire after final whistle scrap in Sheffield Wednesday's friendly clash with Mansfield Town
Tempers boiled over at the final whistle, with both sides squaring up to each other. A melee ensued and stewards had to to separate the players.
Forestieri, who had earlier been yellow-carded after tangling with Krystian Pearce, clashed with several of the Mansfield team. He appeared to punch an opponent in the face before being assaulted himself trying to escape the bust-up himself.
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Hide AdOwls boss, Jos Luhukay, whose side lost 2-1, said: “I’ve never seen anything like that before in a friendly. It was short but it was an explosion. I did not see what the reason was or why it came to that.”
He added he will speak to his players about the incident when the report back for training.
As for his team’s performance against the League Two Stags, Luhukay said: “In the first 15 to 20 minutes we played well in the game. We had a good spirit.
“After 20 minutes, we lost the control. We lost a lot of balls. We weren’t winning much one-on-one. Mansfield came good in the game. They scored a good first goal. We tried to come back into the game and we had an unlucky moment with their second goal between Adam and Cammy.
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Hide Ad“We tried to come back at the end to a draw but Mansfield had two or three good moments to score a third goal.”
Mansfield led 1-0 at the break after a fine strike by Mal Benning. They doubled their lead midway through the second half through an own goal from Adam Reach.
Reach reduced their arrears. “It was too easy for Mansfield to press us,” said Luhukay. “When you don’t have control of the ball, you lose dominance.”