Bruce backs Savage in Dublin spat

Dublin flew in on Savage with a reckless challenge that looked certain to get his name in the book before he then totally lost his cool.

The former Manchester United and Coventry man seemed to be incensed with something Savage said to him in the ensuing fracas and threw his head towards the Welsh international.

Bruce, who was elated with his side's 2-0 derby win, said that he had asked his player about the incident and was sure there was no racial abuse involved.

"I spoke to him in the dressing room and the first thing I said was 'I hope there was no racist comment in that' and he said there was definitely not," Bruce told Skysports after the game.

"The Aston Villa staff have said the same.

"It's very out of character for Dion, I have never ever seen him do anything like that in his career and I suspect he may wake up in the morning and think he's been silly.

"Towards the end there was some serious provocation going on and some of the things going on were getting out of hand and silly.

"But I'm delighted with the discipline of my players. I didn't see any rash challenges from them.

"To come here and do the double on them is a great achievement. We wanted to pick up something and we're delighted that we're six points ahead of Bolton."

Joey Gudjonsson was also sent off late on for a shocking two-footed challenge and Villa boss Graham Taylor refused to the media after the game, and stormed off to confront his beaten troops.