Aston Villa caretaker manager Gary McAllister: Emile Heskey’s fire up with referee was way over the top

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Aston Villa caretaker manager Gary McAllister has warned Emile Heskey for his “over the top reaction” after he appeared to barge referee Mike Jones.

Heskey, 33, seemed to nudge into the official in the 32nd minute of a 1-1 draw with Wigan Athletic on Saturday. The ex-England striker received a caution when his actions could have led to a dismissal and potential lengthy ban.

Speaking to reporters after the match, McAllister admitted he hadn’t seen the incident but revealed he had withdrawn an out of control Heskey at half-time to keep 11-men on the pitch.

He said: “I’m not skipping the issue but I haven’t actually seen the incident.

“If Emile Heskey did barge into the referee, he’s been lucky. It’s very uncharacteristic of Emile and he was obviously annoyed he wasn’t getting protection from the referee Mike Jones after a couple of balls he had won their centre-backs went into the back of him.

“It’s an over the top reaction. Knowing him the way I do – he’s someone I admire and played with – it wasn’t Emile.

“The decision to make the change at half-time was purely for the team as we had to finish with 11-men.”

The result saw Villa draw three-consecutive games under the stand-in Scot. McAllister stated the match “wasn’t pretty at times” and was a consequence of Villa counting down the games until the end of the season after they had already secured their top-flight status.

He said: “I don’t think it was a game of high quality. It was a wee bit frustrating and wasn’t pretty at times.

“Again, we go behind to an unforced error and then we worked our way back into the game. We had two or three chances to get our noses in front but I think Wigan had a good chance when Victor Moses chested one and pulled it wide of the post.

“I’ve got to say a draw was a fair result.”

The ex-Coventry City man continued: “We had that run of four games which enabled us to pull away from the immediate danger and since then, the draw against Stoke City was similar.

“It’s not been free flowing, we’ve grinded it out and want to get to the summer.”