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Steve Bruce: Wolves man Ruben Neves was not hurt by red card tackle

Steve Bruce has accused Wolves' Ruben Neves of play-acting as Newcastle man Sean Longstaff got sent off for a reckless lunge on the Portuguese midfielder.

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Newcastle United's Sean Longstaff is shown a red card by referee Kevin Friend after a tackle on Wolverhampton Wanderers' Ruben Neves

Longstaff was shown a straight red card for what appeared to be a two-footed, high lunge on Neves in the 82nd minute.

But former Villa and Blues boss Bruce saw things differently.

"The behaviour of Neves... when they’re rolling around like that, you know they’re not hurt. If you’re hurt, you just stay motionless," he said.

"He’s not in control of his foot, but how is he supposed to be when he’s just played the ball?

"In that respect I think it’s harsh on the boy (Longstaff), I really, really do."

Bruce, though, did have kind words for Wolves wideman Adama Traore.

"We didn’t come to terms with Traore in the second half, and we didn’t do enough when we had the ball," he added.

"That was the most disappointing thing – the number of times we gave it away cheaply."