a photo has revealed the full extent of stephen ireland's injury, which left the midfielder needing '12 13 stitches' after maynor figueroa's horror challenge left a three inch gash in his calf the stoke city player was taken off at half time and the prognosis of the nasty injury is likely to keep him out of action for a minimum of three weeks figueroa is unlikely to receive a ban with any potential retrospective action hinging on referee neil swarbrick and his officials' prognosis of who saw the challenge it is understood at least one of them did witness the incident the gash in stephen ireland's leg following maynor figueroa's challenge left him needing ten stitches  the stoke city (left) midfielder lies injured after the after horror tackle from the honduras international  the incident left his manager mark hughes furious after the game who insisted the honduras international could have ended ireland's career he said: ‘stephen ireland has been on the end of a horrendous tackle, one that should’ve seen a straight red 'the tackle could've finished his career why the referee hasn't given a straight red i've no idea figueroa cleared the ball and followed through to rake his studs down ireland's leg  he is likely to escape any action from the fa because the officials have confirmed they saw the incident  ireland is now expected to miss the next three weeks of the season following his nasty injury  'ireland’s come in at half time and rolled his sock down, there’s a wound needing 12 13 stitches i’ve watched the video back, it’s shocking we’re frustrated they need to do better' the britannia stadium is no stranger to horror injuries, when aaron ramsey's leg was broken following a ryan shawcross tackle in 2010 despite the shocking injury to ireland, the potters scored a late winner through peter crouch to help soften the news of his expected absence
stephen ireland's maynor figueroa premier league stoke city
warning   graphic content . a photo has revealed the full extent of stephen ireland's injury . the midfielder was the victim of a horror tackle from maynor figueroa . the full back won't face any action because the officials saw the incident . read: premier league needs video replays to help our referees . click here for all the latest stoke city news 