Sheffield Wednesday boss reveals the exact moment he decided to make key change at Portsmouth
Darren Moore says that the atmosphere of Fratton Park led to a swift substitution decision that was made against Portsmouth.
The Owls ran out as 1-0 winners on Saturday in a tightly-fought affair in Hampshire, with Josh Windass’ goal proving to be the winner that kept up the Owls’ long 22-game unbeaten run in League One.
But Wednesday had to delve into their bench on the day, making four changes in total – the first of which was made at the half time break as Jaden Brown was replaced by Reece James for the second half – not too long after he’d been booked for a foul on Joe Rafferty.
When asked why he decided to replace Brown so early, Moore’s original reasoning was short, replying simply, “The booking.”
He did go on to add, however, “In my experience of this place, he only has to tap somebody around the ankle and they'll be baying for blood for him to come off like they did with Dominic Iorfa.
“So I took the decision from the moment he got the yellow card. I knew Reece James was coming on at half-time, and we didn't waste a substitution. I thought Reece did superbly.
"Jaden was just unfortunate because it of the type of challenge it was - it was a competitive challenge. But here it can be deemed more, and I just didn't want to influence the referee any more really because he already had his hands full."
Iorfa, meanwhile, will serve his one-game ban this week when Bolton Wanderers come to Hillsborough in another tough third tier encounter.