Brett Pitman has relived his end-of-game altercation with team-mate Jonas Knudsen at Hillsborough last week and stressed that neither player bears a grudge going forward.
Frustration was behind the flashpoint as Pitman remonstrated with his colleague for his failure to pick him out for a potential match-winning opportunity in the closing stages of the 1-1 stalemate with Sheffield Wednesday.
Pitman said: "I want to win and I think everyone’s the same. People show it differently and maybe I could have dealt with it better, but it’s only because I want to win and I think the manager understands that.
"It gets left there. I don’t hold grudges and Jonas doesn’t hold a grudge. It’s football, it’s a men’s game.
"I hate losing. I like winning and I think everyone in football should be like that. If you don’t mind losing then you are probably in the wrong job.”
Pitman has been described as a heart-on-sleeve type of player, someone unable to hide his frustration, and he didn’t disagree.
He added: "That’s the type of character that I am. I’ve got better at dealing with it but I’ve still got a little bit of work to do. I think it’s healthy to show emotion — you don’t want a team feel of mutes.
"If I do something wrong I don’t need anyone to tell me, but if they do then I’ll take it. If you tell someone when they do something wrong you expect them to take it. It’s a man’s game and that’s how it is.
"We’re playing at a high level and we should be able to accept criticism and give criticism. Like I said, there are no grudges held after a game. It is what it is. We all get on the bus or go back into the changing rooms and we’re all friends again. It’s part and parcel of the game. I’ve always had it and I think it will always be there.”
Asked if he was mellowing with age the striker replied: "Slightly maybe but I don’t think so. You want to win and [what happened at] Sheffield Wednesday was only pure frustration that we didn’t win. That was realistically probably our play-off chances gone and that’s how it is.”