What did Smith do to get sent off

[Hong Kong Fulham fan]

Yellow card.

Ref should have booked him and warned him.

[Snibbo]

50/50 ball. Was not two footed challenge. Reckless maybe. I'd say deserved a yellow.

[MJG]

It was a red and if it was against us you would say the same.

[Cravenawin]

Poor reaction of the Reading player who charged up to the ref pleading for a red card. Was almost wetting himself with anticipation waiting for the ref to pull out the card, and when he did, gave a fist pump and a yeeeeess!. Watch it again if you missed it. Should have been booked himself for unsporting conduct, but the ref was never going to do that as Reading players were immune to bookings yesterday. Poor display by a Premier referee, bit like Mason v Millwall

[JHaynes Paperboy]

Red on the day but could have easily walked away with a yellow and no complaints.

Totally agree, should have been a yellow.

[PokerMatt]

That's absolutely, 100% a red card. Awful challenge. Definite potential to seriously injure.

[Skatzoffc]

IMO at the game it looked a red. Seen it on the TV now. Still a red for me.

But the ref was appalling. Stats at half time said we did 4 fouls that resulted in 2 yellow and 1 red card. Game over. Reading got away with murder with fouls and he never looked to book them.
Still a shocking display from us tho.

On a plus side, (if there is one), our fans had a right laugh with the Reading fans. Very entertaining. Well done to our support.

COYW!

[grandad]

Looked at it from different angles. Was not 2 footed. He did not launch himself off the ground. It was a deliberate attempt to win the ball. It was not malicious nor with intent to injure. Seen a lot worse & no red given.
The ref was pressured by Reading players to send him off. Their reaction after was a disgrace.
Are the club going to appeal? I would citing the area of the pitch it happened. Was the player´s first transgression in spite of being constantly grappled. Was not 2 footed & carried no intent.
Funny that those who say it was a red are probably the same who did not want us to sign him. The anti brigade are at it again.

[PokerMatt]

I was happy with signing him and as above I think it was red.

Of course there was no intent to injure, but if that catches the shin when his foot is planted then it's broken. The sheer force of the challenge makes it dangerous and I can't see grounds for an appeal.

[MasterHaynes]

The problem is the inconsistency of referees. When I saw him stretch for the ball I thought he may get a red but as others have said it could easily have been a yellow. Yet against Cardiff David had a terrible two footed lunge tackle on him which did injure him, which led to his contribution fading and yet the ref did not even give a free kick, he did stop the game as he could see David was injured and restarting with a drop ball? Go figure.
The referees were bad at the cottage in the premiership but here their even worse. They appear to have the attitude teams can kick us about because there up for it playing against a ex premier and we should get used to it while at the same time reaching for their cards on the hint of a foul by our players

[shnlwswlkr]

Let's be honest here. It was not two footed. He lost the ball and was stretching for the ball. He didn't go over the top and her didn't try and injure the player. This was a genuine attempt to win the ball.

In my day it wouldn't have been a foul. Nowadays a player who looks to be going into a challenge and looks to be uncontrolled is sent off. It really wasn't a bad foul. You see these in a season and half the time they don't end up in a sending off.

But he was sent off  but it was just mistimed nothing more.

Mistimed? He was like a Concorde taking off going into that guy.
18 minutes into the game, you're in the oppositions half, you're a striker. Why are you even going into a tackle like that!?!

[Bill2]

The problem is the inconsistency of referees. When I saw him stretch for the ball I thought he may get a red but as others have said it could easily have been a yellow. Yet against Cardiff David had a terrible two footed lunge tackle on him which did injure him, which led to his contribution fading and yet the ref did not even give a free kick, he did stop the game as he could see David was injured and restarting with a drop ball? Go figure.
The referees were bad at the cottage in the premiership but here their even worse. They appear to have the attitude teams can kick us about because there up for it playing against a ex premier and we should get used to it while at the same time reaching for their cards on the hint of a foul by our players

We seem to have picked up quite a number of yellows so far this season and bearing in mind our history in the fair play stakes it does come as a surprise and from what I have seen the last comment is not far off the truth.

[Lighthouse]

Let's be honest here. It was not two footed. He lost the ball and was stretching for the ball. He didn't go over the top and her didn't try and injure the player. This was a genuine attempt to win the ball.

In my day it wouldn't have been a foul. Nowadays a player who looks to be going into a challenge and looks to be uncontrolled is sent off. It really wasn't a bad foul. You see these in a season and half the time they don't end up in a sending off.

But he was sent off  but it was just mistimed nothing more.

Mistimed? He was like a Concorde taking off going into that guy.
18 minutes into the game, you're in the oppositions half, you're a striker. Why are you even going into a tackle like that!?!

Ah in the good old days the players would have risen to their feet and shaken hands while the game carried on. No foul in the good old days. Now we have players pointing and running up to the referee, wetting themselves, trying to have fellow players sent off. Ill advised most certainly. After all no other Fulham player shows any ambition to win the ball back. But the referee will see half a dozen such incidents and book the player four times out of six.

[RaySmith]

Yesterday's ref was weak and hopeless, and missed a lot of fouls on our players. One of their players would probably have got away with a similar challenge with a booking at most

Also, in the old days fans would be likely to stick up for their own players, and now they just seem to want to criticise them.

I don't blame Smith for being somewhat carried away in the heat of the moment -I'd rather have that than a player who wasn't bothered and avoided physical contact.

Sidwell had a similar commitment, and that made him so important for us.