Sheffield United boss Paul Heckingbottom says he will not tolerate anyone "taking the mickey" out of his side, after they lost on penalties to Nottingham Forest in the Championship play-off semi-finals.
Forest reached the play-off final after a tense and nail-biting second-leg encounter with United at the City Ground which went all the way to a penalty shootout on Tuesday (May 17).
The game was not without controversy, however, as emotions threatened to boil over in the first half.
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And Blades boss Heckingbottom was involved when he forcefully pushed the ball into Forest loanee Djed Spence's midriff, sparking a fracas on the touchline.
Speaking to YorkshireLive after the game, Heckingbottom accused Forest of trying to "run" the game and using "gamesmanship" against the Blades.
Explaining what happened in the altercation with Spence, the Blades boss said: "They're my players. Some of them are nearly as old as me, but they will be boys and you will protect them like family.
"I won't have anyone taking the mickey. It's my fault and a yellow card without a doubt. I thought Michael (Oliver) and his team of officials were excellent, they were really good. I did my bit to highlight we are not having a team run a game against us and I thought Michael and his staff were very good after that.
"Gamesmanship, whatever you want to call it, but not against my team. Regardless of what happened there was no way we were going out without a fight.
"Sometimes you need to do it and defend your players. We needed that fight, we needed a spark and intensity. I don't want to be disrespectful to Forest, I really don't, because credit to them and big congratulations to them they have got to the final. But we were the better team, we had the better players. I wanted us to show that and I thought we did."
Brennan Johnson increased the Reds' aggregate lead midway through the first-half, but goals from Morgan Gibbs-White and John Fleck turned the tie on its head. Brice Samba produced a heroic performance as he provided several brilliant saves to deny the Blades, and he kept out penalties from Oli Norwood, Conor Hourihane and Gibbs-White.
Forest will now take on Huddersfield Town for a place in the Premier League when they meet at Wembley Stadium on May 29.
