Stephen Elliott: This is why I was fuming with Hull City's goal - and why Sunderland's Lee Burge should have been taken off sooner

It was a huge error by Lee Burge and on another day the goalkeeper catches that cross without even thinking.

It would have been easy to condemn the player when he spilled the cross, but my first thought was, he should not have been on the pitch.

After Burge took the knock to his eye he should have been substituted straight away.

From when he first hit the floor needing treatment it was over five minutes until he was deemed okay to continue.

There is a lot of talk currently in the news about players being affected by brain injuries after they finish playing, you can’t say it isn’t topical.

Of course the majority of players will say they are fine and want to continue but the decision should be taken from the player.

I remember playing myself after receiving an elbow to the eye and I genuinely didn’t remember much of the game afterwards.

Supposedly I said I was fine to continue.

Like Burge, I should have been taken off.

If Sunderland had gone with this protocol, then the chances are Hull would not have scored and Burge could have been rested up.

Instead he played on for another 40 minutes.

Hopefully there is no long-term damage to Burge and he can be back training as soon as possible.

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