‘Hands in my pockets’ – Sheffield Wednesday’s Darren Moore reacts to ‘manhandle’ attempt in fiery Fleetwood Town moment
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There was a flashpoint at Highbury as Rooney – Fleetwood’s goalscorer in the 2-1 Owls win – fumed at his sending off following a challenge on Marvin Johnson, and it looked like he tried to take his frustrations out on the Owls boss.
Things got heated as he left the field, so much so that David Stockdale also stepped in as the defender was being restrained by the dugouts.
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Hide AdMoore wasn’t fazed by it, though saying that he could tell that Rooney was ‘wound up’ from early on in the game.
Speaking afterwards the Owls boss said, “My reading of it was that he got booked for the first challenge on Tyreeq, and he came over to me and said, 'Are your players soft or what?' I said it was a booking because he had taken him from behind. In the rules of the game, it is a booking.
"We carried on and in the game I could hear he was really, really wound up. The second was a booking again and I think the referee got it right. As he came off, I'm stood in the dugout trying to bark out orders and he's pointing straight at me and he’s decided to manhandle me.
"He was fired up for the game and he had a go at the fourth official. From his perspective in a game where he could have been the hero and scored the first goal, he turned into the villain in getting sent off. Once he got sent off, the game went away from them.
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"It is something that he can learn from but that's my account in terms of what happened in the incident. I did keep my hands in my pockets when he did do it to make sure there was no malice on my side."
Wednesday won the game thanks to goals from George Byers and Marvin Johnson, a victory that stretched their unbeaten run to 11 games in League One.