West Brom vs Wolves suspended amid chaos in crowd during FA Cup clash

The Black Country derby was temporarily suspended due to crowd disturbances at the Hawthorns during the fourth round clash between West Bromwich Albion and Wolverhampton Wanderers.

led through Pedro Neto’s first-half goal and doubled their advantage in the 78th minute when Matheus Cunha raced clear and slotted into the back of the net.

As Wolves fans celebrated in the away end, missiles were thrown from into and out of the visitors section in the Smethwick End. Trouble then began to spill over in a number of sections of the home end, after Wolves supporters were discovered in multiple areas. Fighting duly broke out in a number of areas, both between fans and between supporters and police.

West Bromwich Albion players immediately ran over to the family section by the corner of the Birmingham Road End where trouble had broken out, with defender Kyle Bartley jumping into the stands where his family were sitting, carrying out his young children onto the pitch and to safety.

Around 50 police and a number of stewards tried to calm the situation but despite four announcements for fans to leave the field, the game was not restarted. One man was led across the pitch from the East Stand, his head and face covered in blood, and out through via the West Stand.

The match was stopped officially in the 82d minute, with both sets of players being taken off the field. It was the first match between the two rivals in front of supporters for 12 years.

Speaking on 10 minutes after the game had been suspended, reporter Katie Shanahan said: “I’ve just been speaking to a number of the team around here and the referees are waiting for the go-ahead.

“A number of the players’ children are in that area. The referee can’t go ahead until they have had confirmation from the safety team.”

Supporters were warned that the game would not restart unless they returned to their seats.

Players from both sides eventually reappeared out of the tunnel after a delay of 25 minutes and made their way back onto the playing surface. However, with paramedics dealing with injured members of the crowd the match was unable to restart immediately, leaving players from both sides to warm up on the field.

When the game did eventually resume, Albion centre-back Bartley was notable by his absence.

There will be more to follow…

@Mirror