Manchester United teenager Shea Lacey was sent off in the dying embers of his side's 2-1 defeat to Brighton & Hove Albion in the third round of the FA Cup – and TNT Sports commentator Darren Fletcher has been slammed by fans for his 'awful' coverage of the Liverpool-born talent receiving a red card in the 89th minute.
Although a Benjamin Sesko header late on gave the home contingent a glimmer of hope, United were unable to overturn the two-goal lead that Fabian Hurzeler's men accrued. The Seagulls will learn their next round opponents on Monday.
The electric Brajan Gruda broke the deadlock within 12 minutes after a scramble in the box before Danny Welbeck, who boasts a decent goalscoring record against his former side, doubled their lead in the 64th minute after a sweet left-footed strike nestled into the top corner. Realistically, Lacey's sending off encapsulated United's afternoon.
Fans Fume at TNT Sports' Darren Fletcher For Shea Lacey Red Card Coverage
shea lacey manchester united
Lacey, thanks to the brightness of his youth, was a bright spark when he replaced Mason Mount on the right flank in the 62nd minute. Keen to get on the ball, run at players and make a difference, the young talent tried to retain a loose ball and his extended challenge caught the ankle of Yasan Asari. He was handed a yellow as a result and his second came with seconds left.
With just one minute of regulation time left on the clock at Old Trafford, Lacey picked up his second yellow card after throwing the ball at the floor and throwing his hands aloft. His actions were as a result of him losing out to Ferdi Kadioglu on the far side and conceding a throw-in.
As seen below, the 18-year-old – the youngest of a boxing and footballing family – threw the ball away in frustration and was swiftly met with his second yellow card of the occasion for dissent by Simon Hooper.
However, as Hooper's decision was met with a face of disbelief by Lacey, TNT Sports' Darren Fletcher – on commentary duty alongside Ally McCoist – was too busy explaining a statistic to reflect how poor United have been this season to realise that Lacey had been sent for an early bath.
By virtue of exiting the oldest football competition in the world, United will now play the fewest games in a season since over 100 years ago in 1915 – and Fletcher felt obliged to let people know, all while ignoring the fact that Lacey had been sent off. You can watch Lacey receive his red card and Fletcher's commentary below:
Online, fans have reacted poorly given Fletcher's lack of broadcasting know-how. "Darren Fletcher (the commentator) missing that Shea Lacey has been sent off because he's too busy giving pointless information. Such a bad commentator," one said as another added: "Why weren't they commentating on Lacey getting a red card there? Banging on instead about some stat."
"Darren Fletcher is an absolutely useless commentator. He offers his opinion far too much and also doesn’t watch the game. He completely missed Lacey’s red card there. Absolutely awful."
"The commentators hardly said anything about Lacey getting a second yellow!" a fourth supporter said after United's latest chastening result as another commented: "Darren Fletcher on TNT Sports waffling and completely ignoring Shea Lacey being sent off."