GARY O’NEILL has dismissed claims of a bust-up between him and Unai Emery after the two refused to shake hands following the 1-1 draw between Wolves and Villa yesterday.
South Korea striker Hwang Hee-chan continued his rich vein of form with another goal after 53 minutes but his opener was quickly cancelled out by Pau Torres‘ first goal for the Villains.
AlamyO’Neill and Emery clashed following the Midlands derby draw[/caption]
Mario Lemina saw red late on for two yellow card offences in a derby game which spilled over onto the sidelines.
When asked about the incident that saw the two managers not shake hands, O’Neill said: “It was a lot of nothing, I was moaning at the fourth [official] about playing 114 minutes and Unai didn’t want to wait for the handshake so he went to walk down the tunnel. I just said: ‘No problem, go down the tunnel’.
“I’ve waited ages for people (managers in the past), I understand that they want to talk with the fourth official.
“My conversation with the fourth official was about eight seconds long so he wouldn’t have had to wait very long. But I understand if he doesn’t want to, no problem. I’ve got no problem with Unai at all.
“I thought we edged it 11 v 11, apart from the start but a point is fairish I’d suggest. We looked comfortable, there wasn’t a huge gap between the sides.
“Eight points is not a bad return, we’re managing to score goals and trying to improve.”
The derby draw allowed Wolves to extend their unbeaten record against Villa to six games unbeaten in the Premier League.
Villa will no doubt be disappointed with the result as victory would have taken them into the top four after an impressive start to the season.
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The result was a positive one for Wolves, allowing them to build on the good result last time out with a 2-1 win against City.
Unai Emery said after the game : “It’s a derby and we felt it on the pitch. There are a lot of supporters with us, they are pushing, it was a great atmosphere.
He also closed his post-game interview by saying that the non-handshake with O’Neill was “nothing”.
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