Luke Varney insisted Luke Hyam should not be stopped from playing his natural game, after his tackle left Brentford’s Alan Judge with a broken leg on Saturday.
With just three minutes gone in a game the Blues would ultimately lose 3-1, Hyam flew into a strong, sliding, tackle Judge, which saw him get the ball but also left the Brentford man with a serious injury, which will cost him a place in Ireland’s Euro 2016 squad.
He was booked for the tackle before being dismissed just before half-time, after reacting to a bad challenge from Brentford’s Ryan Woods, with Varney insisting there was no question of any malice in Hyam’s early challenge.
The 24-year-old takes a whole-hearted approach to football, both in competitive action and in training, with Varney insisting Hyam, who was left ‘distraught’ by the incident, shouldn’t change the way he plays the game.
“There was no malice in it at all, we all no Hymsy, he gets stuck in and we’d never stop him doing that,” Varney said.
“It’s unfortunate for Judgey because he’s a great player and he’ll come back better.
“After that the game was tough to get into, there were a few tackles and it was a bit nervy, so we’re disappointed.
“It’s another home defeat, we’re just pleased we stuck together, there’s no finger pointing and we’ll move on.
“If I thought there was any malice in it I’d no. I’ve had a couple of those (tackles) off him in training in the last week, he’s that sort of player.
“It’s always disappointing when someone’s on the receiving end and there’s a serious injury, but he’ll get best treatment.
“I’ve had serious injuries myself so I know he’ll be back better than ever. All the best to him.
“Hymsy will be fine, we’ll put an arm round him and get him ready for next week.”
The Blues are now eight points behind sixth-placed Sheffield Wednesday ahead of the two sides’ game next weekend, but Varney is realistic enough to know a place in the play-offs is almost certainly behind his side.
He said: “We should be realistic now and realise it’s going to be a tough ask but we’re going to take each game as it comes.
“It’s another big game away at Sheffield Wednesday next week and they are in the running for it. If we can effect it in any way we’ll do it for ourselves and not for the other teams.
“We start the season aiming to go better than we did last year and it will be a disappointing end if we miss out, but we’re going to try our hardest.
“We get every single ounce out of our lads, we put 100 per cent in every single game and there are no fingers pointed.
“We’ll keep going and do our best to get as many points as we can between now and the end of the season.”
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