UK Edition
Sunderland player 'punched and kicked' by Portsmouth fan after falling over hoardings in fractious play-off clash
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Portsmouth 0 Sunderland 0 (agg: 0-1)
Sunderland defender Luke O’Nien joked that his “little cousin hits harder than that” after he appeared to be punched and kicked by a Portsmouth supporter during the League One play-off semi-final at Fratton Park.
O’Nien tumbled over the advertising hoardings and into the home crowd in the second half of a fractious draw which secured Sunderland’s passage into the play-off final at Wembley.
The Sunderland defender played down the incident after the game, saying it was “just a bit of handbags” and adding that he had asked police not to press charges against the supporter, who was removed from the ground.
“I went over the hoardings and they had a few digs at me but that’s football,” said O’Nien. “They [the police] asked if I wanted to press charges but that’s football, no problem.
“He didn’t hurt me and he got arrested at the end, I think. He can have that one. It was just a bit of handbags and nothing to think about too much. It’s happened and it’s something silly. I’ve seen my little cousin hit harder than that.”
The incident took place in the second half of a heated clash that was lacking in quality. The supporter in question even tried to get onto the playing surface, where Sunderland’s Lee Cattermole was waiting for him, before he was removed from the ground.
The incident had echoes of the recent attack of Aston Villa’s Jack Grealish by a Birmingham City supporter, although O’Nien was clearly keen for it not to detract from a professional, composed performance by his side.
Charlton or Doncaster await at Wembley, where Sunderland will look to rediscover some joy at last after a couple of years of genuine anguish. They showed at Fratton Park that they have enough experience and composure to complete the job at the national stadium and return to the Championship at the first time of asking.
"There's satisfaction in that we've answered a fair bit of criticism to get through this game,” said Jack Ross, the Sunderland manager. "The times we've played here this season, it's been a proper atmosphere and a real test, so to come through it is very pleasing.
“But now my work comes about who we will face in the final and that work starts tomorrow. We have another opportunity now to go to Wembley and achieve ultimately what we set out to do at the start of the season.”
The ground-out nature of Sunderland’s victory over these two matches, secured by Chris Maguire’s first-leg strike, will be a source of such frustration for Portsmouth, who were unable to dominate the game or create clear chances despite a feeling of genuine pre-match optimism on the south coast.
In truth, the frantic atmosphere appeared to affect the home players. Both Gareth Evans, who had launched a boot into the face of Cattermole, and Tom Naylor, who had thrown the ball into the face of Maguire, could count themselves fortunate not to have been sent off after just 10 minutes. At one point, two Portsmouth players even contrived to slide-tackle each other.
Their best chance of the first half fell to Evans, whose close-range header was wonderfully saved by Sunderland goalkeeper Jon McLaughlin. After the break it was Oli Hawkins and substitute James Vaughan who went close, both with headers, but again McLaughlin stood firm as Portsmouth gradually lost hope.