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21st December 2015
04:03pm GMT



Smith, who almost took the full force of McClean's studs to his upper leg, has claimed today that the challenge could have left him with a long term injury.
"He could have broken my leg. Personally I thought it was a very dangerous challenge." "I could see out of the corner of my eye that he was sprinting towards me so I knocked the ball and as I knocked the ball I jumped because I knew he was going to come for me. "It was lucky I did because if my leg was standing I could have been hurt. I don't know but he could have done a lot of damage. It was right in my shin and it was hard as well but luckily I jumped out of the way."McClean and Smith were involved in an incident just a few seconds earlier in the game, but Smith doesn't think it warranted the challenge on his leg,
"I don't really know what happened before. Maybe he thought I fouled him, I don't really know. It was a 50-50 and maybe I caught him, I don't know."Tony Pulis promised to discipline McClean after the game with some reports suggesting he may have to pay two weeks wages, or around £50,000 after the incident left him with a three match ban.
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