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Brighton boss criticises “ridiculous” tackle from Crawley player who ended Matt O’Riley’s debut

Brighton boss Fabian Hurzeler criticises the “ridiculous” tackle from Crawley player Jay Williams who ended Matt O’Riley’s debut.

O’Riley was announced as their new addition from Celtic 24 hours before the game, ended up limping off the pitch as the Seagulls went on to beat Crawley in the Carabao Cup Second Round.

The £25m signing was on the receiving end of a crunching tackle by Crawley captain Jay Williams just 6 minutes into the match, and after being attended, two physios soon helped him off the field.

Journalist Henry Winter tweeted: “Jay Williams’ challenge on Matt O’Riley, which did not even get a booking and left O’Riley limping off with a damaged left ankle, is a good advertisement for VAR. That should be a red card.” He’s right and it does raise a good argument that where there can be VAR, should it be made available?

Now Hurzeler says O’Riley suffered an injury to the left ankle and that it “does not look good”.

“You can’t tackle like this,” he said, per BBC Sport.

“It is a tackle where you take a risk of an injury of another player.”

Williams escaped a booking, before receiving a yellow on the 15th minute, then got booed by much of the home fans inside the Amex throughout the first and second half before being substituted on the 59th minute.

Crawley saw substitute Jack Roles received a red card for a challenge on Yasin Ayari in the 91st minute. Hurzeler and Crawley manager Scott Lindsey also got booked by the referee.

Lindsey said sorry for Williams’ tackle after the game, saying: “Maybe we were a bit aggressive, maybe the referee missed it and I would like to apologise.

“I wouldn’t want anyone to be hurt. We are both passionate about the game and we wish Brighton all the best in the next round.”

Speaking to Sky Sports, Hurzeler added: “Ridiculous foul.

“It had nothing to do with football. It changed the game because afterwards it got very emotional.”

Here’s how fans reacted as Brighton boss criticises the “ridiculous” tackle from Crawley player who ended Matt O’Riley’s debut…

@north_seagull: Outrageous that he didn’t get booked

@CFC_1888_1: Disgrace of a challenge. No card or nothing. What a joke. Not injured his entire time with Celtic over a few seasons and gets a challenge like that less than 7 minutes into his debut? 🤦

@pja7171: Disgraceful challenge and more of a disgrace he wasn’t even booked

@OneClub1888: Straight red. He’ll be lucky not to have suffered serious injury 🤬

@jakeybhoy58: If he was any later he’d have missed the coach back to Crawley ffs!! Who is the ref? Mr Magoo?!?!

@GrahamFyfe6: How is that not a red? Shocking tackle. Hopefully O’Riley is not badly injured.

@Migano2000: How on earth was that not a red card?!

@CelticBhoy41: Absolute shocking he should be off no doubt, am guessing there’s no VAR in the cup? Even then there’s no excuse for the ref horror challenge that.

@SuperCooperWell: Fk me 6 minutes into a debut too, shocking and how he didnt even get a card is unreal

@stephenjtaylor8: He looked utterly dejected, shocking tackle. His ability to turn away with the ball initially is the kind of play we saw time and time again at Celtic. Hope it’s not too bad and he recovers soon.

@CraigWhyteReal: He is that not a red card, absolutely disgraceful challenge, about 10 minutes late, no where near the ball !

@Albion_Nav: He has the audacity to lift his arms and act like he didn’t even touch him… what an ass.

@lyonfrog: Shocking tackle feckin leg breaker red card all day 😡

@UTPN1931: This is a horrendous tackle from Jay Williams 🫣🫣

@neverseenjoydiv: Absolute leg breaker on Brighton’s new signing Matt O’Reily by @crawleytown thug Jay Williams. Looks very serious. ‘Referee’ (ha!) Alex Chilowicz didn’t even think it worth a booking #BHACRA #BRICRA #bhafc #crawleyfc #crawleytown #CarabaoCup #EFLCup

@steveseagul08: Absolutely atrocious tackle. The guy should be banned retrospectively as the ref clearly didn’t have a clue!

@LSTK1967: Is it correct he didn’t even get a yellow for that? That’s an awful tackle. Hopefully he gets over that soon. Fantastic player.

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