Football: County face FA action

Football

Notts County could be in trouble with the Association after police charged a fan with attacking the referee, Phil Richards, during Saturday's match against Lincoln.

When the Preston official ended the game, which Lincoln won 2-1, he needed police protection on his way to the tunnel. The crowd had been incensed by the dismissal of Devon White and, less than 90 seconds later, Phil Stant's 75th-minute winner.

Richards allowed Stant's goal to stand, but home fans believed he was one of two City players offside.

As the County players remonstrated with officials, Richards was involved in an incident with a home fan. A man was later arrested and charged with common assault, affray and two pitch incursion offences. He has been released on bail.

The club's managing director, Geoff Davey, is expecting some form of punishment. "I have no doubt there will be repercussions - those repercussions will be for the football club as well as for anyone else," he said. "We were all incensed, but I am sure we haven't heard the last of it. We do have a very good stewarding staff, but if one man in 5,700 decides to run on, you simply can't stop one man."

An FA spokeswoman, Helen Willis, said: "We will have to study the referee's report before deciding whether we take any action - if any. Because of the Bank Holiday we don't expect to be able to make any other comment until Tuesday at the earliest."