Wednesday 4 March 2015 17:31, UK
Steve Bruce has pleaded his innocence following an altercation involving himself and Gus Poyet during Hull’s 1-1 draw with Sunderland.
Bruce and Poyet had to be separated by match officials and backroom staff at the KC Stadium after Jack Rodwell was booked for simulation and a skirmish broke out on the touchline.
Poyet headed straight for Bruce after referee Mike Dean sent him to the stands for his protest to Rodwell’s booking - the Uruguayan appeared to try to shake Bruce’s hand - a move which spark the tussle.
The clash was the second attack on Bruce in a day, following Stoke manager Mark Hughes lashing out at his former team-mate, but Bruce was quick to the diffuse the situation with his opposite number.
“The big contentious issue was Rodwell running through and, from where I was standing, he took a run, a jump and a dive,” he told Sky Sports.
“The referee got it right, but Gus’ reaction means he obviously thought it wasn’t right. You’ll have to ask him the rest of it.
“Why has he come over to me? I don’t really know what I’m supposed to have done.
“These things, however, do happen in the heat of the moment. These things do happen in big games and today was a big game.
“I suppose I’m not flavour of the month after Hughes had a dig this afternoon and Gus tonight, but I hope he is OK.
“My door is always open, but I’m not sure what I’ve done to warrant what has happened. You better ask Gus that.”
A goal for each side in either half ensured the points were shared as Rodwell turned from villain to hero to cancel out Dame N’Doye’s opener.
Hull missed the chance to move seven points clear of the relegation zone and, for Bruce, the result was one etched with disappointment having surrendered a lead at home.
“We don’t know if his is a disappointing result because it could be the point that keeps us up,” Bruce added.
“We’re disappointed because we had the best opportunities. We had some really good opportunities to put the game to bed.
“When you’ve got those chances you’ve got to take them at this level. It always difficult to create a number of chances and we’ve had enough today to win the match that’s for certain.
“I don’t think we let them back into the game I just think we needed to score the second goal and we didn’t and were disappointed with their goal.
“We could have done better and it’s been a frustrating night for us because we played very well for large patches but the big chances didn’t quite go our way.”
