Cardiff striker Salech cleared of 'serious injury'

Cardiff City striker Yousef Salech suffered no serious injury in the incident that led him to be taken off on a stretcher against Stockport County on Saturday.

The Bluebirds' top scorer had a hospital scan to determine the severity of his neck injury.

Cardiff issued a statement that read: "We're pleased to inform supporters that Yousef Salech has been discharged from hospital without any serious injury and will now observe a short period of rest and recovery."

The incident had prompted head coach Brian Barry-Murphy to criticise referees for not protecting Salech.

The 24-year-old was hurt after a challenge by Stockport's Brad Hills during Saturday's 1-1 League One draw at Cardiff City Stadium.

Referee Paul Howard did not award a free-kick, seemingly judging Hills to have competed fairly with Salech in an aerial duel.

Salech received treatment for 13 minutes before leaving the field on a stretcher with his neck in a brace.

"It's been coming," Barry-Murphy said of Salech's injury immediately after the game. "We've seen for months that he hasn't been protected by the referees.

"It definitely wasn't nice viewing, but we're very hopeful [it is not serious]. It's very difficult when you have such a serious injury to someone who's so close to all the players.

"It's difficult to compose yourself and to focus on the game. So really considering those circumstances the players faced, I was over the moon [with their performance] and my own focus to be honest was a little bit distracted."

Salech has been one of Cardiff's star performers this season, scoring 13 goals in all competitions for the League One leaders.

That is despite him being the target of rough treatment from centre-backs, whose robust challenges throughout the campaign have frequently gone unpunished.

"We do so much analysis on the games. If I'm an opposing manager or an opposing team, I'll see what you can and can't get away with against a player with his profile," Barry-Murphy added.

"It's been coming for months where he's been consistently fouled. There's a lot of talk about what the threshold is this season - the level of contact can be prolonged in more than previous years. It's got ridiculous.

"He's clearly been fouled all the time and not got any free-kicks. The interpretation of the new rules is up to the referees, but it's clear how much you can and can't get away with and the level of challenges that he's consistently facing are clearly fouls and not being punished."