Birmingham defender Stephen Kelly believes the extent of Arsenal striker Eduardo's horrific injury influenced referee Mike Dean's decision to red card Martin Taylor during Saturday's Barclays Premier League clash at St Andrews.
Eduardo suffered a broken leg after only three minutes of the 2-2 draw and the Croatia international is facing a lengthy spell on the sidelines.
The former Tottenham player said: "It was harsh Tiny (Taylor) being sent off. Tiny has gone in and it wasn't a malicious tackle and the reason the ref has sent him off is because he has seen Eduardo has broken his leg.
"I don't think you can send a player off for that. That's football. It can happen. It is an accident. Tiny didn't go in two-footed. He didn't lunge. He didn't dive in.
"Everyone knows what Tiny is like. He is such a nice bloke. He has not got a malicious bone in his body so it was very harsh for the ref to see the broken leg and then send him off because of that.
"It is a terrible thing to happen and you wouldn't want it to happen to anybody but I don't think that warrants a sending-off. People can do that with just falling over. Tiny has committed himself. He has gone in with one foot, slid along the ground."
