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Football

16th Dec 2020

Moses Odubajo issues explanation for ‘celebrating’ opponent’s goal after angry fan reaction

Simon Lloyd

‘Out of context, videos can be misconstrued’

Sheffield Wednesday’s Moses Odubajo has offered an explanation to the club’s supporters after being accused of celebrating Lewis Grabban’s goal for Nottingham Forest on Tuesday night.

Forest beat Wednesday 2-0 at the City Ground to leave Tony Pulis’ side rooted to the bottom of the Championship table. Grabban’s goal came three minutes from full-time and ended any hopes of them salvaging a point from the game.

Having steered his shot into the corner of the goal, footage shows Grabban being approached by a smiling Odubajo, who appears to high-five him.

Video of the incident was widely shared on social media in the hours after full-time, with many Wednesday fans reacting furiously.

Aware of the the hostile reaction, Odubajo took to Twitter to offer his version of events, strongly denying suggestions he was taking any kind of enjoyment out of the situation. Grabban had raised his boot to win the ball in the seconds before scoring, something many Wednesday players – Odubajo included – expected to be deemed a foul. His reaction, he explained, was one of disbelief that the goal would be allowed to stand.

‘The loss is frustrating for myself and the team,’ he began. ‘I would never high 5 another player for scoring against us. I said to Grabban no way is that a goal because of the foul and laughed it off thinking the goal wouldn’t stand.

‘We’re bottom of the league. No one at the club wants relegation and there’s no chance I would celebrate a goal that keeps us bottom.

‘Out of context, videos can be misconstrued. I hope I’ve cleared it up with fans who doubted my commitment to the team.’

Wednesday remain on nine points and will look to avoid a fifth straight league defeat when they host Coventry City on Saturday.