THE FA will investigate chaotic scenes towards the end of Aston Villa’s FA Cup quarter-final victory over West Bromwich Albion last night. After Scott Sinclair scored Villa’s late second goal, there was a minor invasion that the stewards eventually ushered back.
There then followed a second surge on to the pitch in added time. More seriously, at the final whistle, thousands of Villa fans swarmed on to the field, while some visiting supporters hurled seats from the stands. Villa’s first goalscorer, Fabian Delph described events as “very, very scary”. He was bitten and lost his boot and the captain’s armband, while Albion substitute Callum McManaman was confronted by gloating fans and had to be dragged into the dressing room by teammates. Goalkeeper Boaz Myhill was seen hurling a mobile phone away after a fan attempted a selfie.
The repercussions will be serious and questions will be asked about playing such an important game between two neighbours in the evening, and about stewarding practice and numbers. The Villa manager, Tim Sherwood, played down the invasions and denied seeing any Albion players in difficulty. “I can’t condone fans going on to the pitch, but I can understand it,” he said. “It was an extremely emotional moment. We’ve beaten our local rivals twice in a few days. The stewards did their best, but they can’t stem such numbers.”
Tony Pulis, the Albion manager, described the scenes as “disgraceful” and the people who went on the pitch as “mindless idiots”. He added: “Villa should look at their stewarding. It was Albion at Villa, a quarter-final of the FA Cup and a full house. You know it’s going to be tasty. Stewards needed to be stood at both ends and you could see that five minutes before the end people were congregating. It put the players in danger and it took us back to the 70s and 80s and we don’t want that.”
The game was also distinguished by a red card for each side. First, referee Anthony Taylor punished a challenge by West Brom’s Claudio Yacob with a second yellow card, then he sent off Jack Grealish after showing him a second yellow for simulation. Both decisions looked harsh.