Marco Silva has defended Bernd Leno and played down his clash with a Bournemouth ball boy after the Fulham shot-stopper shoved the youngster during Tuesday’s 3-0 defeat.

The west Londoners fell two goals behind when Dominic Solanke converted a spot-kick just after the hour-mark and, soon after, Leno rushed to try and take a goal kick quickly as Fulham pushed for a way back into the game.

But he was unhappy with the speed at which one of the ball boys was retrieving the ball, running over to grab the ball himself and pushing the youngster as he did so.

Leno was already on a yellow card but escaped a second booking for his action, with referee Tim Robinson noting the incident but waving for play to continue.