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Why Mads Hermansen was booked after being shoved into net by Zian Flemming in West Ham's draw vs Burnley
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- Why Mads Hermansen was booked after being shoved into net by Zian Flemming in West Ham's draw vs Burnley
Referee Josh Smith drew praise for his performance in West Ham 's 2-2 draw against Burnley on Sunday.
Nicky Hayen saw his side come from two goals behind to rescue a point at Turf Moor, courtesy of a late brace by striker Zian Flemming .
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Maximilian Kilman had given the Irons the lead in the 10th minute before Manor Solomon doubled the London club's advantage in the 72nd minute, despite Burnley being arguably the better side throughout the second half.
However, Burnley got themselves a reprieve in the 82nd minute when Ollie Scarles fouled Marcus Edwards in the penalty area.
Former Premier League referee Keith Hackett believes it was the correct call by Smith, who was well-placed to see Scarles lunge in and bring Edwards to the ground without touching the ball.
However, it was an incident after the penalty that caused more of an issue for the experienced referee.
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Keith Hackett reacts to Zian Flemming and Mads Hermansen incident
After Flemming sent Mads Hermansen the wrong way from the penalty spot, the Burnley striker ran to get the ball back.
Even though Hermansen wasn't really making an effort to stop that from happening right away, Flemming barged into the West Ham goalkeeper and sent him flying into the back of the net.
A small scuffle broke out afterwards, which led to both Flemming and Hermansen being booked, despite the latter's yellow card causing some confusion.
However, according to former PGMOL general manager Hackett, the Danish shot-stopper was yellow-carded because he continued holding onto the ball.
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"Josh Smith had a very good performance in this game between Burnley aand West Ham," Hackett exclusively told West Ham Zoneon Sunday.
"Where possible he has kept the game flowing.
"He was ideally positioned to to correctly award a penalty kick to Burnley. Flemming of Burnley then converted to make the score 2-1 [to West Ham].
"After taking the penalty kick and scoring Flemming ran into the goal net and pushed the West Ham goalkeeper into the back netting.
"There was an immediate coming together between Flemming and the goalkeeper, who continued to hold onto the ball.
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"Smith, to re-enforce his authority after the clash between Fleming and Hermansen, correctly yellow-carded each player for adopting an aggressive approach to each other correctly."
West Ham player ratings vs Burnley - Manor Solomon shines but 3/10 teammate ruins the day How did Hermansen perform vs Burnley?
Unfortunately for the 26-year-old goalkeeper, his defenders didn't give him too much help on Sunday.
Scarles had already done the damage and then he went the wrong way from Flemming's spot kick.
However, for Flemming's second goal, Hermansen did a very weak clearing punch that led to the ball eventually falling to the Dutchman's feet.
Stats by Sofascore show that Hermansen did make two saves from inside the box to help keep Burnley at bay.
Unfortunately, that wasn't enough for him to turn out on the winning side in Lancashire.
