Man dressed as Sutton United mascot invades pitch during Arsenal FA Cup clash

The individual approached a number of players before escorting himself off the pitch

The pitch invader jogs past an unimpressed Alex Iwobi (Getty)

For all those involved at Sutton United, Monday night’s clash against Arsenal in the fifth round of the FA Cup was a memorable evening that will go down in the club’s history – despite the disappointing 2-0 defeat.

Thanks to extensive preparation and a small army of volunteers, proceedings largely went to plan as the plucky National League side gave a respectable account of themselves against Arsene Wenger’s men.

However, Monday’s match wasn’t completely without incident as a man wearing a giraffe mask on his head made his way onto the pitch during the first half.

Wearing only boxer shorts, socks, trainers and the mask – in reference to Sutton mascot ‘Jenny the Giraffe’ – the pitch invader jumped over the boards and proceeded to approach a number of players.

With a shortage of stewards at hand, the individual in question eventually made his own way off the pitch before being subsequently ejected from the stadium.

Sutton’s limited security measures were also exposed after the final whistle when a number of fans invaded the pitch, with a bottle allegedly thrown in the direction of Wenger.

After the 2-0 victory for Arsenal, fans stayed on the pitch with one individual appearing to be arrested for aiming a blow at another supporter.

Paul Doswell, the Sutton United manager, condemned the invading fans as “absolute idiots”.

“It disappointed me at the end,” he said. “They don’t support Sutton. You know that and I know that. Absolute idiots.

“I totally get it. Unfortunately that’s the world we live in. I saw a few idiots shouting and screaming at Wenger and Arsenal players. They’ve got to be protected from those type of people.

“I saw some odd stuff on Twitter, what people are going to do when they got here. You saw the idiot run on the pitch (pitch-invader during the game), that was the big moment of his life.

"I don’t blame them, it’s [a] way out of anything I can understand or would even want to understand. I wouldn’t want that if you gave me £1m.”