PAUL Heckingbottom admitted he deserved to be sent off for his reaction to an incident in the build-up to Middlesbrough's third goal against Sheffield United - but explained at length what made him so angry.
Heckingbottom saw red immediately after Cameron Archer slotted home his second goal of the night at Bramall Lane to wrap up a huge win for Boro, with the Blades boss kicking out at the fourth official's board in the technical area.
What angered the home boss was a foul on Sheffield United's James McAtee in the build-up to the goal. Referee Andre Marriner played an advantage but the Blades went on to lose the ball. Boro then broke, with Hayden Hackney finding Archer, who fired into the bottom corner.
Heckingbottom claimed McAtee was punished for his own honesty in trying to stay on his feet instead of going down and claims the Blades were dispossessed soon enough after the advantage was played for the foul to brought back.
What angered the home boss wasn't the incident in isolation, but the fact, he says, that he's brought similar situations to the attention of match officials over the course of the season.
"I don’t like getting sent off and I was right to get sent off," Heckingbottom admitted, before explaining his anger.
"My frustration isn’t with that moment in that game, my frustration and anger is that we see that every game and I’m having conversations with the referees all the time. Emails backwards and forwards.
"To explain again, we have three really good ball carriers in James McAtee, Iliman (Ndiaye) and Sander (Berge) who are continually fouled, brought down or don’t go down and stay on their feet. I’m at the point now where I’m speaking to the lads and they’re going to have to go down.
"Look back at every game and you see it happening. This is the perfect example. Macca goes past, gets dragged down, stays on his feet, has another go, stays on his feet. There’s an advantage played, we lose the ball in less than four seconds, Boro get the ball and score.
"I’m not moaning about this game but if Macca goes down we get the foul and the lad gets booked. We see this against us all the time. I just hate the way the game is going with that.
"They’re my frustrations. It’s not just this moment in the game, but it’s a great example of what we’re talking about. The referees agree with me from the emails back and forward."
Heckingbottom doesn't want to encourage his players to go down but feels he has no choice.
He said: "It’s like when you bring a kid up and you reward the wrong behaviours. Are we all just accepting that that’s what we want people to do now in football? The anger is not today, it’s me constantly speaking about this and being agreed with. And it’s cost me now."
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On the game itself, Heckingbottom felt his side had enough chances to win, and insists there's no panic despite Boro closing the gap on the automatic promotion spots.
He said: "The result is disappointing. We weren’t at our best, however we still did more than enough if you’re looking at opportunities and chances. Goals will always change games. We missed our opportunities and got punished. Key moments.
"Seven points, game in hand, if you’d have asked me at any point whether I’d have taken that, yeah 100%.
"We were going to lose games, we’ve lost games this season and we were going to lose. Things will probably be made of it because we’ve lost to Boro who are third. But nothing changes with what we want to do and how we do it.
"We’ll watch the game back and there are moments there where we could have easily been sitting here with us with the three points, but we’re not. We have to accept it."
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