Shrewsbury missile could have killed Chelsea goalkeeper

The Chelsea goalkeeper Carlo Cudicini could have been killed by an object fired on to the pitch from outside the ground during Sunday night's FA Cup tie at Shrewsbury Town, police said yesterday.

A cylinder-shaped metal object landed just inches from the Italian 15 minutes into the Chelsea's 4-0 fourth-round win at Gay Meadow. Police had originally believed that the piece of metal – four inches long – had landed near the Shrews' keeper, Ian Dunbavin. But Chief Superintendent Peter Wright, of West Mercia Constabulary, stated that the object had, in fact, almost struck Cudicini.

Chief Supt Wright said: "The missile actually landed near the Chelsea goalkeeper, Carlo Cudicini, not Ian Dunbavin, the Shrewsbury goalkeeper. We think it is important for Ian Dunbavin that this is made understood.

"Shrapnel off an object like that is capable of killing. The goalkeeper's career could have been finished on the spot," he said, adding that the firing of the weapon into a stadium filled with nearly 8,000 fans was an act of "sheer lunacy".

The device will now be tested by firearms and explosive experts.

The deputy chief executive of the Professional Footballers' Association, Mick McGuire, said: "Following the hooliganism in the game in the late 1970s and the 1980s there's been a massive change in emphasis to such an extent that families can come to games and feel comfortable.

"The last thing we want is for this sort of thing to rear its ugly head again. The police can protect everyone inside the ground but it becomes difficult to do anything when trouble occurs outside the ground when the game is going on."

An FA statement read: "The FA can confirm that the crowd control observer's report states that two explosions occurred outside the ground and an object then landed on the pitch well away from play.

"As the incident did not take place within Gay Meadow, the matter is in the hands of the police rather than the football authorities."