Holloway plays down tunnel row

By Editor
January 18 2003

Ian Holloway angrily played down an apparent brawl that broke out in the players' tunnel seconds after the final whistle at Home Park.

Holloway admitted to confronting Plymouth skipper Paul Wotton immediately after Rangers' 1-0 win but insisted that "no punches were thrown" despite around 20 players being involved and a host of stewards having to break the incident up.

Holloway added: "We should talk about the football because there wasn't really an incident.

"It was all petty handbags stuff. There was a lot of people, mainly stewards that rushed in, and all they were doing was their job.

"Football is an emotional game and all that happened was that I went to speak to Wotton, which I shouldn't have done maybe."

Holloway was adamant that neither club should face disciplinary action and match referee Peter Walton hinted it was unlikely to happen.

Walton said: "My report will state that there was an incident around the tunnel area involving both clubs.

"I will let the authorities view the video and take any action they feel is appropriate. As for my report, it will not indicate any individuals."

Holloway paid tribute to Pacquette, whose winner was overshadowed by events after the match.

"If he shows the right attitude, he can go a long way," Holloway declared.

"I am absolutely delighted. We've had injuries but the players have shown a great spirit and we dug in there."

Pacquette, transfer-listed in the summer but now establishing himself as a regular choice, said: "It was a great feeling to score.

"It was a really good ball from Marc Bircham. I was going to volley it but let it run across my body and concentrated on hitting it sweetly.

"I'm really happy. The manager has given me this chance and I wanted to take it. I'm going to carry on working hard and hopefully keep on scoring.

"The players are definitely looking at the top two," he added. "We've always believed we can do it. We're grinding out results now and we feel we can get better."