The Football Association (FA) is set to launch an investigation into crowd trouble that marred Aston Villa’s FA Cup quarter-final victory over West Bromwich Albion on Saturday.
Second-half goals from Fabian Delph and Scott Sinclair settled a feisty contest that saw both teams end the match with 10 men as Tim Sherwood’s team made it two wins over their local rivals in just five days.
However, the match was overshadowed by controversial scenes in the closing stages certain to be the subject of FA scrutiny in the coming days, with the governing body believed to have had a crowd-control adviser present in the stands. The first sign of trouble came shortly after Delph’s 51st-minute goal when a smoke bomb was let off by the home fans in the lower tier of the North Stand.
Photo: Reuters
Tensions became further heightened later in the half when West Brom supporters in the North Stand’s upper tier tore out several seats, throwing them at the Villa fans below them.
Next, in added time, stewards were forced to gather up hordes of home fans who flooded onto the field to prematurely celebrate before the final whistle.
Then a mass pitch invasion ensued at the final whistle, with players from both sides caught up in a melee that Villa skipper Delph described as “very, very scary.”
Photo: AFP
Baggies boss Tony Pulis told the BBC: “It’s disgraceful. We don’t want to see those scenes. They’ve beaten us and for that to happen, that’s just mindless idiots.”
Speaking at a press conference afterward he said: “I actually think Villa should look at the stewarding. It’s a quarter-final of an FA Cup, it’s a full house and you know that it’s going to be tasty, let’s put it that way.”
“The hierarchy at Villa should recognise that you need stewards at both ends of the pitch,” he said.
Asked if any of his players had been struck, Pulis said: “I didn’t ask them afterwards. Everyone looked as though they had their heads on, their arms on and their legs on. Nobody said anything to me.”
Villa boss Sherwood insisted he “could not condone the fans entering the field,” but added: “I can understand their emotions.”
“They’ve just beat their local rivals twice in a week and once in the quarter-final of the FA Cup, so the emotions are running very, very high, but like I say, the club wouldn’t condone that sort of action, especially if anyone was touched,” he said. “What can you do? The stewards did their best. I saw them rugby tackle a few guys, but when they are coming on in such numbers, it’s difficult to stem it.”
In another quarter-final, third-tier Bradford City’s chances of playing at Wembley Stadium in the last four remained alive after they drew 0-0 at home to second-tier Reading.
Additional reporting by AP
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