Manchester City teenager Taylor Harwood-Bellis was the victim of a horrendous challenge that saw Huddersfield striker Josh Koroma somehow escape a red card.
The 19-year-old Blues defender, playing for Stoke after joining the Championship club on loan, was caught on the knee by a high, studs-up tackle, a few yards in front of referee Gavin Ward, who had an unimpeded view of the incident (see video below).
Incredibly, Ward not only failed to produce the straight red card that was the obvious sanction, he did not even give a free kick.
To make matters worse, Koroma scored the opening goal in a 1-1 draw just a few minutes later.
Harwood-Bellis, just back from a half-season loan at Anderlecht, was playing just his second game for the Potters, who are six points off the play-off places.
The Stockpor t-born player grimaced in pain but was fortunate not to be seriously injured by the challenge, and was able to complete the game.
Not only that, he was one of Stoke’s best performers, racking up a 90 per cent pass accuracy, winning 13 of his 17 duels and eight out of 11 aerial duels.
Stoke manager Michael O'Neill told Stoke-on-Trent Live after the match: "Their lad who scored the goal should have been nowhere near the pitch – under any circumstances, it was an awful challenge on Taylor.
“The tackle is knee-high, it is straight leg and it is just so dangerous, so how the referee has missed that, I really have no idea."
The Sky Sports pundits were unanimous that Koroma should have seen red for the challenge.
"It was a real terrible tackle," said former Reading winger Jobi McAnuff. "I did think when I saw it in real time that it was a dangerous tackle and it just gets worse the more you see it.
"The ref's position, he seems to have a really good view of it and I am not sure how he misses it completely. From Stoke’s point of view they can be rightly aggrieved that it was not a red."
