By Chris Wright
“Anyone seen a bloke with what looks like a slice of fluorescent Battenberg tucked in his pocket?”
Here’s one you don’t hear every day: assistant referee Alan Young, i.e, the man on duty during Leicester City’s 3-1 mauling of Millwall at The Den yesterday, was forced to find himself a replacement flag midway through the game after a livid Millwall fan ran onto the pitch and tore his original flag in half over his heinous decision to deny the home side a corner kick.
The Millwall fans had become increasingly infuriated by a series of tight decisions all going Leicester’s way and Young’s call to award The Foxes a goal-kick rather than giving the home side a corner proved too much for one man, who waded onto the pitch and tore Young’s flag clean off its handle in a fit of rage.
Millwall’s interim manager Neil Harris admitted he didn’t see the incident himself but went on to describe the aftermath:
“I saw the flag on the floor and the linesman standing there with the handle. I think the young man just run over to tell the linesman how disappointed he was that he didn’t give a corner, which it clearly was.”
The fan was then duly man-handled out of the stadium by stewards, though Millwall are yet to confirm whether they are going to take any futher action over the incident.
To be fair, it may sound over the top on the face of things but small victories are a big deal to Millwall these days. After all, it’s always nice to win something, even if it is just a corner.