A profoundly depressing FA Cup tie which was halted by Millwall fans for 25 minutes and ended with a frightening riot, produced a rather tame victory for Luton at Kenilworth Road last night.
A first-half goal by Brian Stein, proved enough to secure a place in the semi-finals against the holders, Everton, at Villa Park on April 13. Persistent attempts by Millwall fans to invade the pitch in the closing minutes were foiled by the police.
However, it was a night in which football died a slow death, with both teams clearly intimidated by the volatile atmosphere. At the final whistle the mob of Millwall fans ripped up a large area of seating in the Bobbers’ Stand and then attacked the police who were forced to draw truncheons in self-defence.
At one stage scores of police officers had to flee for their safety down the pitch towards the Kenilworth Road stand with an ugly rampaging mob of Millwall fans in hot pursuit. But the beleaguered officers managed to regroup, mustering sufficient organisation to counter-attack and drive the fans back to the terraces. Many policemen were struck by flying missiles, mainly dismembered seats.
It was hardly surprising that football took a back seat with the constant threat of a pitch-invasion during the game. When play was halted after 15 minutes the police showed admirable calm, making shrewd use of their Alsatian dogs to subdue a series of vicious scuffles at the front of the main stand. Over-reaction at that stage would probably have caused a full-scale riot and led to the game being abandoned.
The referee David Hutchinson had no option but to lead both teams from the pitch while the police struggled to restore order. Once the hundreds of fans had been despatched back to the terraces and stands the referee appealed to them over the public-address system to allow the game to continue without further interruption.
Sadly, there was so little rhythm or sense of continuity in what had become a macabre exercise that the players could have been forgiven for deciding to stage the tie at a later date. Ironically, the Millwall team seemed completely overawed by the behaviour of their own supporters who heavily outnumbered the Luton fans and not surprisingly, created a deafening volume of noise.
This is an edited extract, read on here
