Shaun Rooney gave Fleetwood Town an early lead over Sheffield Wednesday, but left the field in a rage following a late sending off.
The former St Johnstone star, who won a Scottish Cup and League Cup double in Perth, fired Scott Brown’s side ahead after just eight minutes. But the Owls staged a comeback with George Byers levelling on 16 minutes before Marvin Johnson hit the winner with a little over quarter-of-an-hour to play. Rooney then lost the plot on 83 minutes after being shown a second yellow card and receiving his marching orders.
He made an angry beeline for the Sheffield Wednesday bench, where he appeared to push their man mountain manager Darren Moore, get involved in a heated exchange with Wednesday’s sub keeper David Stockdale before hurling abuse at the fourth official. A number of Fleetwood’s coaching staff had to restrain the Scot, with ex-Celtic captain Brown appearing to order him up the tunnel before he caused any more trouble.
Moore gave his side of the story after the match, claiming that Rooney asked the Wednesday head coach if his players were “soft” after his initial caution. He then got a second yellow, and it essentially ensured the visitors would leave with all three points to boost their Championship return bid.
"My reading of it was that he [Rooney] got booked for the first challenge on Tyreeq [Bakinson] and he came over to me and said 'are your players soft of what?'” said Moore. “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 (to the touchline), 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.
"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."
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