Michael Brown

Fulham midfielder Michael Brown is unlikely to be punished for his apparent stamp on Chelsea's Ashley Cole.

The referee Mark Halsey last night effectively pre-empted any FA intervention by insisting that he had already judged the incident.

Halsey, who gave a free-kick to Chelsea, conceded that Brown's lunge might have looked more severe "in slow motion", but he added: "I gave what I saw at the time.

It was a 50-50 challenge in my opinion. No one complained and after about 30 seconds Cole got straight back up and we got on with the game."

The FA has indicated that as the referee saw the incident it is unlikely to act, reserving their interventions for exceptional cases.

"I don't think there was a problem with it," Brown said. "The referee said it was a foul and that was the end of it. As far as I'm concerned it was just another tackle."