As Preston North End defeated Lancashire rivals Blackpool in their Capitol One Cup meeting last night, unsavoury scenes marred the final whistle as celebrating fans invaded the pitch and a steward was subsequently trampled by a police horse.
A number of police horses had been deployed in an attempt to manage the post-match disorder, as hundreds of home fans stormed the Deepdale pitch to celebrate Tom Clarke’s dramatic 87th minute winner. Thankfully, the steward only suffered minor damage to his shoulder and was taken to hospital for a precautionary X-ray.
“It’s an absolute joke and I wondered if we have enough stewards,” Blackpool manager Paul Ince commented. “You see enough situations where fans run on a pitch and I can understand fans’ excitement but there have been enough frightening things that have happened to players that we need to stamp down on it.”
“Stamp down on it” Paul? Probably not the best choice of words considering the situation.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VXHFJRYqN9Y&sns=em
Luckily the horse somehow got away scott free after the incident and was lucky that this particular horse-hating Newcastle fan wasn’t on the scene at the time. “The horse started it.” Sure he did buddy, sure he did.
