How in the wide, wide world was this not a straight red card?
One could say with comforting certainty that Luton Town got what was coming to them after Henri Lansbury somehow avoided a straight red card for a reckless assault on Swansea’s Ryan Manning.
Leading Swansea 3-0 after only 23 minutes but were wildly fortunate to avoid going down to 10 men after Lansbury lost the head.
The Welsh side had conceded a free-kick, over on the left wing, and Lansbury was lining it up when Manning, seeking to hold up play, kicked the ball away.
Lansbury, incensed by the action, went straight ahead and hacked Manning to the ground. Tom Lockyer, his Luton teammate, showed zero sympathy for the Ireland international as he clutched his shin on the ground, leaning over Manning to taunt him.
Swansea players rushed over to stand up for Manning and referee Tony Harrington had a job of it to calm everyone down. He then, quite incredibly, opted to show Lansbury just a yellow card.
I’m sorry, YELLOW card??????? pic.twitter.com/DXHWV4B8gW
— FootballJOE (@FootballJOE) September 18, 2021
Swansea went in 3-0 down at the break, but got back into the game when Jamie Paterson fired in from distance.
With four minutes left to play, Olivier Ntcham rattled another Swansea goal home and set up a tense finale. Two minutes into stoppage time, Joel Piro grabbed an equaliser for Russell Martin’s side.
The result was enough to get Swansea out of the relegation zone while Luton Town remain squarely in mid-table after an incident-crammed game.
