He does not have to be ‘Mr Angry’ on a football pitch – but Lyle Taylor admits sometimes it helps.
The AFC Wimbledon striker’s verbal joust with Mansfield skipper Nicky Hunt – a hangover from his sending off for a clash with the defender in the reverse fixture in September – was the latest example of the 25-year-old ‘playing on the edge’ in the emotional sense this season.
He avoided the referee’s attention on this occasion, but there have been three yellows in addition to the red and he was fortunate to escape censure for another clash with a Dagenham defender in November.
There have been rants to officials too, which, while not in the class of John McEnroe of tennis fame, appear to have galvanised Dons’ leading scorer who now has 11 this season.
However, he claims form and his fiery persona are not always linked.
“I don’t have to be right on the edge to play well,” he said.
AFC Wimbledon's 3-1 win over Mansfield in pictures:
“There are times when I will be running around the pitch smiling and happy, but in the middle of winter when you are playing against an ugly physical side in Mansfield, you’ve got to be on the edge.
“There are a few other ugly teams in this league as well, so you have to do what you have to do to win the game.
“It is strange because if you ask any of the boys they will tell you I moan constantly, but I’m not an angry person.
“But it is like when I’m wronged and my team is wronged a whole different person comes out.”
The former Bournemouth front-man acknowledges though he does walk something of a tightrope when it comes to discipline – something he knows he needs to watch.
“At the moment it is working and it’s fine, but I have had the conversation with the manager and it is a very, very delicate line and if you step over it you are off the pitch, simple as that,” he added
“So you have to know how to control that anger.”
