Sam Matterface slams ‘nasty’ scenes at The Hawthorns as West Brom v Wolves stopped due to crowd trouble
Sam Matterface has hit out at the “nasty” scenes between West Brom and Wolves fans during the FA Cup Fourth Round clash at The Hawthorns, with crowd trouble causing the game to be stopped.
Following a goal from Matheus Cunha to put the visitors two goals ahead, fans spilt onto the pitch as it appeared Wolves fans had entered the West Brom end.
Further clarity is yet to be given, but the trouble in the crowd and fans spilling onto the pitch led the referee to suspend the game and take the teams back into the dressing rooms after 80 minutes.
Commentating live on ITV 1 [28 January, 13:25], Matterface shared: “This is not acceptable in any sense. It’s getting really nasty in certain sections of the ground where I think Wolves fans have bought tickets. Police are having to use batons. It’s really ugly.”
No place for these scenes
Given the length of time between meetings of these two teams, there was always likely to be some trouble around the game, but with play having to be suspended as a result of crowd trouble, there really is no place for this type of thing in modern football.
An increased police presence at the game had not done enough to deter issues, and wading into the crowd with batons as described by Matterface rarely does much to combat the issues.
Crowd trouble spilling onto the pitch during the game, particularly over in the corner of the ground where numbers of fans had begun to correlate between the home and away sections caused an immediate threat to the players, so it was no surprise when they were taken down the tunnel.
The ultimate decision on what would happen as a result of the stop in play is yet to be made, with all cards seemingly on the table, including a possible replay, but more likely that the result would be called as it was due to the amount of football played.
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