Who ate half the pie?

Leo Spall13 April 2012

Millwall have already taken action against a fan accused of throwing missiles at last night's match against Birmingham.

Two plastic bottles and, curiously, half a meat pie were thrown at an assistant referee.

If police are satisfied that the man identified by Millwall threw any of the objects, he faces prosecution and a life ban from the ground.

While there is a certain element of humour in asking whether he was the man who ate half the pie and then lobbed it, last night's scenes during the 1-1 draw at The Den were something the sport could have done without in a week which has seen crowd problems at Cardiff and Stamford Bridge.

Last night's events were not as serious but Millwall chairman Theo Paphitis took a tough stance.

He ordered a half-time announcement warning fans that further problems could lead to the game being abandoned and trouble for the club.

Paphitis said today: "We have all got to stamp on this sort of thing and stamp on it hard. It is indefensible. Someone was apprehended and taken away pretty sharpish. He will not just be banned for life, he will be prosecuted.

"There was one isolated incident but we will not tolerate anything like that and you can see by our response that we will not let anything get out of hand.

"You get copycats, people who see it on television and we have got to stamp on it. It is unacceptable and it does not matter whether it was a pie or anything else. You have to talk to people and let them know what is what."

Paphitis and his club were praised for their swift response by referee Phil Dowd, even though he confirmed he will include the missiles incident in his match report. In a stormy game, both managers were ordered to sit in the stand and not the dugouts and Birmingham's Curtis Woodhouse was sent off as Millwall climbed to third place in the First Division.

Meanwhile, Tottenham announced today that they will co-operate with Chelsea in seeking to identify and ban people involved in the trouble at Stamford Bridge on Wednesday.

It's not dull at The Den
Millwall v Birmingham - match stats
First Division table
Weekend Football Focus

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