POLICE were called to a North Yorkshire football team’s away match at the weekend when the game had to be halted due to a disturbance in the crowd.
A crowd of 540 supporters watched Tadcaster Albion draw 2-2 at Worksop Town in the Northern Counties East League premier division on Saturday.
Former Manchester United and York City midfielder Jonathan Greening was red-carded in the fourth minute and his side trailed the hosts 2-0 at half-time.
Greening’s brother Josh pulled a goal back for Albion on the hour, but then the match reportedly had to be halted for almost ten minutes after an incident involving a section of the crowd.
Comments shared afterwards on social media claimed objects had been thrown, hitting Albion players and fans, while women and children allegedly suffered verbal abuse, and police were eventually called.
The game resumed and Tadcaster’s Andy Milne scored their equaliser in the 96th minute. Paul Marshall, Albion’s manager, said in a post-match interview his team were “in the ascendency” following their first goal, before the disruption started.
He said: “I’m thinking we’ll get another goal here, then all the commotion started, which is a disgrace what was going on with the fans.
“It was awful to watch and witness.
“It slowed the game down and I’m thinking ‘this is going to work against us’.
“We were just getting on top and I thought another goal was going to come.”
Inspector Darren Hall, from Nottinghamshire Police, said officers were called to the ground at 4.30pm due to “heightened tension amongst the crowd”, but no arrests had been made.
Paul Stacey, Worksop Town’s club secretary, said the club was investigating the incident, but it was still unclear exactly what had happened.
He said: “I know the referee has put something in his report so we will have to wait to see what that has to say.
“We’re hoping the video will shed some light on it.
“I know the goalkeeper reported to the referee that something was thrown on to the pitch but nothing was handed to the referee.
“Our groundskeepers have been down on to the pitch and there’s nothing there.”
Brian Gould, secretary treasurer of the Northern Counties East League, said: “Other than to confirm that the match referee has reported the incident to the Football Association, we have no further comment to make at this stage.”
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