Mass brawl at Maldon and Tipree FA Cup match (From Maldon and Burnham Standard)

Mass brawl at Maldon and Tipree FA Cup match

5:13pm Thursday 27th September 2012 in Sport

AN FA Cup tie descended into a mass brawl, amid allegations of players being punched and spat at.

Trouble flared at the end of Maldon & Tiptree’s second round qualifying replay at home to Brentwood Town, on Tuesday.

A thrilling tie finished 1-1 and then, after extra-time, Brentwood won 9-8 on penalties.

However, that was not the end of the drama as, in the aftermath, Brentwood player Abs Thompson allegedly punched Maldon’s James Robinson.

A huge brawl including both sets of players and coaching staff then followed, before Thompson allegedly spat at Jamie Guy.

Maldon assistant boss Jody Brown said: “One of their players punched James Robinson.

“Everyone else was celebrating and shaking hands and then, after the punch, some of our players got involved and it erupted.

“The same player then spat at Jamie Guy.

“Brentwood players were even fighting among themselves and it spilled into their dressing room.

“It’s the first time I’ve ever seen a punch thrown after the game has finished.

“Our players weren’t blameless because words were said and some of them had to be restrained.

“But they were severely provoked and, overall, I feel our players and club behaved the best we could.”

Brentwood boss Steve Witherspoon said he is in the process of getting to the bottom of what happened.

But he said his player was of a good character and only reacted because of something that was said during the second half.

“It was all very unsavoury and an absolute shame, because it took the gloss off a great game of football, not to mention the fact we won the tie,” he said.

“I don’t want to cause a problem between the clubs because we have a good relationship.”

Dave Wareham had put Maldon in front before Brentwood levelled.

All 22 players took penalties in the shoot-out.