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Wales fans livid as Skrtel’s elbow on Williams goes unpunished a yard from the official

Published 18:31 11 Jun 2016 BST

Nooruddean Choudry
Wales fans livid as Skrtel’s elbow on Williams goes unpunished a yard from the official

Homesport

What do touchline officials do?

With Wales 1-0 up in their first international tournament game in 58 years, courtesy of a stunning Gareth Bale freekick, they had Slovakia well and truly on the ropes in a pulsating first half. There were 13 minutes remaining to the half-time whistle when a speculative attack saw the Welsh dragons enter the opponents' penalty area with Jonny Williams looking to latch onto the ball. But as the Crystal Palace man advanced towards the six-yard box, with Slovakia's Martin Skrtel seemingly second best in the pursuit for possession, he was stopped in his tracks in savage style. Skrtel sized up and then executed a vicious elbow to the midfielder's throat in what was surely a red card offence. Williams crumpled to the ground as the ball rolled out of play. And yet what was the punishment for this heinous challenge? A straight red? A clear penalty allowing Wales to go 2-o up? No. Nothing was given. Instead Slovakia were awarded a goal kick. What made the negligent officiating even worse was the proximity and attention of the touchline official, who was barely a yard away with his eyes firmly on the action. Why he did nothing in the face of such a diabolical foul is anybody's guess. It certainly got Twitter talking that's for sure... https://twitter.com/tomwfootball/status/741669665806684160 https://twitter.com/W_F_Magee/status/741669628158611456 https://twitter.com/danstapleton89/status/741669619308605440 https://twitter.com/bpfootball/status/741669643190833152 https://twitter.com/TheAnfieldWrap/status/741669724468187136 https://twitter.com/wonky_donky/status/741669814050160640 https://twitter.com/JimBoardman/status/741669782685122560 https://twitter.com/EddyDove/status/741669777140252673 SNAPCHAT

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Wales fans livid as Skrtel's elbow on Williams goes unpunished a yard from the official