Mancini, Moyes play down touchline bust-up

Manchester City manager Roberto Mancini and Everton boss David Moyes could both face censure after a remarkable touchline bust-up on Wednesday night.

The two angrily confronted each other as a compelling Premier League encounter - which Everton won 2-0 after goals from Tim Cahill and Mikel Arteta - went into injury time.

The pair needed to be separated by fourth official Howard Webb at Eastlands after Mancini took exception to Moyes picking up the ball, an action the Italian interpreted as time-wasting.

The incident ended with both being sent to the dressing rooms for the closing moments by referee Peter Walton.

Mancini and Moyes both played down the fracas afterwards.

"I have spoken with David and if I made a mistake I am sorry," said Mancini.

"I wanted to get the ball because there was another five minutes at the end.

"This can happen in a game but it is finished now."

Moyes defended his actions and cheekily claimed he might even have been doing City a favour.

Moyes said: "Next time I might just let the ball run through. I caught it because I was making a substitution, I would have thought it would actually have helped him.

"I was very surprised, I didn't know what I had done wrong. Maybe I held onto the ball a second or two longer than I should have done but I was trying to make a substitution."