A Slide Tackle In Premier League U23 Match Is Causing Huge Debate Online After Referee Gives Yellow Card

Stoke City Under-23s secured a 2-1 win against Norwich City in their Premier League Two clash this week, but it was a 'perfectly-timed' slide tackle from youngster Kieran Coates that grabbed the headlines.

The 19-year-old defender received a yellow card in the 31st minute of Monday's game at the Lotus Training Ground when he appeared to win the ball cleanly.

Although the trailing leg was tucked away, Coates did follow through hard on his opponent.

Image: Twitter

It's an incident that has certainly divided opinion on social media.

Twitter user @ajwc63 posted the original video, alongside a slow-motion version of the tackle.

He believes the "ridiculous" yellow card decision is "what is killing football as a sport", although some disagree with his opinion. What do you think?

Here is the slow-motion footage of Coates' challenge.

After the full-time whistle, Coates took to Twitter to express his opinion on the slide tackle, which has picked up over 320,000 views and 2,000 retweets at the time of writing. He said: "Shocking from the ref."

Although plenty of people agreed with the 19-year-old defender, some thought it was worthy of a card.

Here is just a selection of reaction from Coates' controversial challenge.

Thoughts on the tackle? Was it a yellow card or a perfectly-timed challenge?

Let us know in the comments. This one could cause huge debate.

Topics: Football News, Football, Premier League, norwich city, Stoke City

Jack Kenmare

Jack Kenmare is a writer at SPORTbible. He's interviewed some of the biggest names in sport, including Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Pele, Carles Puyol and Tim Henman. He dabbles in all things sport but football is his biggest passion. He was once hit in the head by a wayward strike from Nicky Butt and lived to tell the tale.

@jackkenmare_