'stop pushing/slowly' - is it the right thing to do?

[BubbleAndSquark]

My baby is a few weeks old, and at the end of his labour there was a few contractions where he was almost out and I was told to slow down as he started to come out, then felt him go back between contactions.
On the last I didn't listen (not really intentionally, I wasn't coping well and hadn't had time for pain relief) and pushed him out very quickly as she was saying slow down but I only needed 4 minor stitches.

Is it always right to listen when they say to, or is it sometimes a case of you should go with your body? I feel like I could've got him out sooner if I hadn't been being told to stop.

As PPs say it helps to prevent tearing. I remember being coached through panting and birthing the head slowly - I didn't tear and walked away with a couple of perineal grazes, no pain. It only took a minute or so for the head to be all the way out, and then literally one or two pushes after that his entire body just slid out and it was all over.

With my second I couldn't have stopped pushing if I'd wanted to, my body just ejected him super quickly. Luckily I just had a small second degree tear that healed really quickly.