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Wales Online
Wales Online
Sport
Ian Mitchelmore

Fulham's Marco Silva in agreement with Swansea City boss Russell Martin over referee as Flynn Downes update issued

Marco Silva admits he felt Fulham were denied a clear penalty against Swansea City shortly before Ryan Manning was sent off.

The Swans impressed for the majority of the opening half of the contest against the Championship leaders but conceded five second-half goals following Manning's dismissal in the 42nd minute.

The Irishman was shown a straight red card for a challenge on Harry Wilson - a foul both Silva and Russell Martin felt warranted just a booking on first viewing.

However, like Martin, Silva was unimpressed with referee Jarred Gillett after stating his side should have been awarded a spot-kick when Fabio Carvalho went down under a challenge from Kyle Naughton in the Swansea box.

“If you ask me if I thought it was a red card at the time, I have to say no. After seeing Harry Wilson’s leg, I started to think in a different way," said Silva on the red card issued to Manning.

“If you saw the leg of Harry Wilson, maybe you would think in a different way also.

“I didn’t see the broadcast image. In the first moment I thought it would be yellow but when I saw Harry’s leg I started to think in a different way.

“Maybe it’s not a red card but 15 minutes earlier it’s a clear penalty. He made a mistake there as well. It’s part of the game.”

READ MORE: 'They've dodged a bullet' Russell Martin's assessment of Ryan Manning red card in Fulham loss

Manning is now poised to be suspended for four games having already been sent off against Blackburn Rovers this season.

Swansea are set to appeal the decision, but, as thing stand, Manning is unavailable for the matches against Blackpool, Peterborough United, Birmingham City and Cardiff City.

Cyrus Christie is in contention to face Blackpool on Saturday having been ineligible to face Fulham on Tuesday night.

Swansea will monitor the fitness of Flynn Downes ahead of the trip to Lancashire after the midfielder took a knock in the first half of the 5-1 defeat to Fulham.

"Flynn Downes took a kick. We missed him because he is one of our most athletic players," said Martin.

"He was sore, really, really sore and so we had to weigh it up as to whether we put him back out there or save him for the games coming up.

"It hurt us him not being on the pitch, but you have to take into account the big picture.

"We took Michael Obafemi off to keep him fresh for Saturday. We had to make two changes, which wasn't ideal, so we couldn’t get anyone else off the pitch."

Kick-off against Blackpool is at 3pm on Saturday.

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