“Can’t do what they want” Passionate Portsmouth boss explains stance on ‘Towelgate’ – claims Sheffield Wednesday planted towels
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The match was stopped early on in the piece when Will Vaulks used a towel to dry the ball before one of his long throws – sparking a row between both sets of backroom staff before a Pompey staff member was sent to collect the towels from the side of the pitch.
Darren Moore said he was relaxed about the issue and suggested it had been started with confusion as to who can use towels – rules appear to state that if home teams provide them, they must be accessible to both sides – it’s a rule Portsmouth are claimed to have resisted, claiming any towels should be theirs and theirs alone.
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Hide AdMousinho appeared to claim Wednesday had therefore placed their own towels along the touchline – and he simply was not having it.
“It’s Fratton Park and other teams can’t come and put what they want around the touchline,” he said.
“You just can’t, I don’t think, and the towels clearly didn’t go back out. I think the rule is if the home side put the towels out they have to be accessible to both sides.
“I don’t think it’s up to away sides to come and do whatever they want here.
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Hide Ad“I know it seems a petty one, I get that, but I don’t think we should accept other sides doing that, thankfully we didn’t.
Home supporters responded to the incident with a chorus of “Where’s your towel gone?”, though their fun was ended a few minutes later when Josh Windass scored what proved to be the decisive goal.
“I know there was a bit of amusement among the crowd, but sometimes those tiny things make a difference,” Mousinho continued.
"If they’d scored off a long throw I would have been kicking myself.
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Hide Ad“It does seem a bit trivial and we don’t want to get carried away with it. I guess looking back it’s a bit of amusement early in the game.”