Swansea face 3-match Stamenic ban after 26th-minute red in Birmingham loss
Swansea City midfielder Marko Stamenic was shown a straight red card in the 26th minute of Saturday’s 2-1 Championship defeat against Birmingham City at St Andrew’s. The dismissal for a challenge on Ethan Laird leaves the New Zealand international facing a standard three-match suspension for dangerous play.
Swansea Midfield Options Restricted Ahead of Key Championship Run
The three-game ban removes Stamenic from head coach Vitor Matos’s squad selection for upcoming Championship fixtures against West Bromwich Albion, Middlesbrough, and Cardiff City following the November international break. Swansea retain the option to submit a formal appeal to the Regulatory Commission prior to their next match, seeking to overturn referee Anthony Backhouse’s decision.
The defeat drops Swansea to sixth place in the Championship standings after incurring a fourth loss in their past five league matches. The Swans had previously built momentum by losing just one of their opening 10 league fixtures this season before this recent sequence of results.
“I think what happened in that situation was that Marko touched the ball. He tackled the ball with the first foot, he tackled the ball with the second foot. There’s no contact between the two players, so then it’s the judgement of the ref if that’s a red or not.”
“It was a poor challenge.”
BBC Sport Wales reported the post-match statements from both managers following the fixture.