Fulham manager Mark Hughes has slammed the tackle that led to forward Moussa Dembele being stretchered off on Tuesday night.
Dembele was scythed down by Stoke defender Andy Wilkinson deep into added time of the Cottagers’ 2-0 defeat in the Carling Cup.
And Hughes, who is now waiting to learn the extent of the injury, was furious with Wilkinson for breaking the footballers ‘code’.
The Fulham boss said: “If he has avoided serious injury then he has been a very lucky boy because the tackle that took him out was, from my point of view, an absolutely ridiculous challenge at that stage of the game.
“When you are at that stage of the game and your team is leading 2-0, there is a certain code I would suggest that you look after your fellow professional, and the lad has ignored that.
“There was no need for the challenge at that late stage in the game and he has put a fellow professional’s career at risk by the nature of it. I don’t know what the hell he was thinking about to be perfectly honest.
“We are hopeful that he (Dembele) is fortunate and there has been no break, and it that is the case, it’s a blessing because at the time of the challenge I thought he had done a real serious injury.”
And Hughes’ comments were backed by Stoke assistant boss Dave Kemp, who said: “It was an unnecessary, rash challenge – we know that, we are football people as well.
“We have spoken to Andy about it. He didn’t need to make the challenge, I agree.”
And Kemp added: “All I can say is that I hope the player is not too badly hurt. There is no malice in his challenge – it’s just over-enthusiasm.”