Violence mars play-offs for Football League spot

Oxford United and York City will do battle at Wembley for a place in the English Football League following Monday’s play-off semi-finals, which were overshadowed by crowd violence.

The two teams qualified for the May 16 Conference National play-off final, though ugly scenes marred the semis.

Oxford beat visitors Rushden and Diamonds 2-0 before 11,963 fans in the second leg at the Kassam Stadium to go through 3-1 on aggregate.

But York’s 1-0 win over hosts Luton Town at Kenilworth Road was marred by a violent pitch invasion by angry Hatters fans after the final whistle.

As York’s players celebrated in front of their supporters at the Oak Road end, Luton fans stormed the pitch.

They fought with stewards and police in a bid to reach the away fans.

The pitch invasion cut off access to the tunnel, so the York players took refuge into the Oak Road end.

As they were being escorted across the back of the stand, they came under a barrage of missiles from the Luton fans on the pitch.

Security officials eventually cleared the pitch and the York players were able to escape.

The Minstermen went through 2-0 on aggregate following the second leg, played before a near-capacity 9,781 crowd.

“It’s devastating to see what happened on the pitch after the game,” Luton chairman Nick Owen told Sky Sports television.

“The fans swarmed towards the York end… it looked an absolute mess. Things were obviously being thrown.

“One or two fans have let the club down and we’re very upset about it and pretty angry.”

York City chairman Jason McGill added: “Richard Brodie was hit on the head by a pound coin and a few of the other players were hit on the head by various missiles.

“You’ve got to let the proper authorities take their course of action,” he added.

Kenilworth Road was the scene of an infamous football riot in 1985. The battle was one of the worst incidents of hooliganism in English football and a turning point in the fight against it.

Getting into the Football League is one of the toughest achievements in English football as only two promotion places are available. Those who come up normally do very well in the fully professional ranks.

The play-off final winners will join Conference National champions Stevenage Borough in League Two, English football’s fourth tier.

Oxford joined the Football League in 1962. They won the 1986 League Cup but were relegated from the top flight in 1988 and from the League in 2006.

York joined the Football League in 1929 and famously beat Manchester United 3-0 at Old Trafford in the 1995-96 League Cup. They were relegated from the League in 2004.