The FA will review the referee’s report.
Southampton defender Taylor Harwood-Bellis has been accused of “discriminatory comments” towards Middlesbrough defender Luke Ayling during the play-off semi-final second leg on Tuesday evening.
Securing their place in the play-off final v Hull City at Wembley, The Saints came from behind to be victorious.
Despite Ross Stewart and Shea Charles’ extra-time goals seeing the South Coast side one game off the Premier League, the game was overshadowed by a separate incident.
38 minutes into the game, Ayling received a yellow card for a challenge on opposing player Leo Scienza.
Soon after, Ayling could be seen in a verbal confrontation with Harwood-Bellis, leading referee Andy Madley to stop play and speak to both managers, Tonda Eckert and Kim Hellberg on the touchline.
Sky Sports reporter Jonathan Oakes then spoke on the incident at half-time:
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“There were words exchanged between Luke Ayling and Taylor Harwood-Bellis,” Oakes said. “Ayling says the words that Harwood-Bellis used towards him were of a discriminatory nature, and other players around heard the comment as well.
“It prompted the referee Andy Madley to speak to both managers. Madley says he will be reporting the incident.”
The FA will read the report from Madley before deciding whether to pursue action.
The Athletic have since reported that Harwood-Bellis made reference to Ayling’s stammer during the incident.
Eckert has since spoken on the situation: “I don’t have an understanding of the situation yet,”
“But I have seen that the two of them spoke straight after the game and there was obviously a lot of emotions, but they seemed fine.”
Luke Ayling previously opens up on stammer
Three years ago, Ayling spoke on his stammer in an interview with the BBC, highlighting his “insecurities”.
“When I first came to Leeds, I wasn’t comfortable at all doing interviews,” Ayling said.
“And I’ve kind of got to a point now where I just don’t care. If I do an interview and I have a stutter, I see a lot of things online when people say that I say ‘then’ and ‘like’ a lot but that’s my safety blanket kind of thing.
“Because I know that I can get those words out. I see a lot of people who maybe don’t know that I’ve got a stutter say ‘all I hear is then and like’.
“I just got to a point where I just thought, do you know what, I’m doing an interview with somebody who wants to speak to me and who actually wants to hear what I’ve got to say so why am I scared to do it? Because I shied away for so long from doing it.
“But I will still go to a drive-thru and I’ll be sat in the driver’s seat and I’ll still make my missus order it because I don’t want to do it. So, I still have those insecurities.”
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