Nottingham Forest head coach Sabri Lamouchi says it was a reaction to a missed pass from one of his players which earned him a yellow card at Wigan Athletic.
The Frenchman was booked by referee Matt Donohue in the first half of the Reds’ 1-0 defeat at the DW Stadium.
It came in the aftermath of a penalty appeal from the visitors when Sammy Ameobi went down in the box, with Forest arguing he had had his shirt pulled by Antonee Robinson.
Donohue waved away their protests, but Lamouchi says that was not the reason for his show of frustration on the touchline.
“I was a little bit angry about one pass missed from my players, not about the referee,” he said.
“The fourth official called the referee and he gave me a yellow card.
“It is nothing.”
Jamal Lowe’s strike 15 minutes after that incident proved enough to condemn the Reds to only their second Championship loss of the season - and their first on the road.
It was a below-par performance from Lamouchi’s men, with the Forest boss from the victory over Brentford before the international break.
The visitors did look brighter with the introduction of Lewis Grabban, Tiago Silva and Joao Carvalho from off the bench in the second half, and with a change in formation.
But goalkeeper Brice Samba was nevertheless required to make some strong saves to keep any hopes of a comeback alive.
“We didn’t play. We didn’t play like usual, like we know we can. That was not the case,” Lamouchi added.
“I made some changes, we tried a lot offensively.
“Maybe, without one or two big saves from Brice, Wigan could have closed the game before.
“But we had chances to come back in the game and we didn’t take it.”
