VISITING fans sparked a riot at Accrington Stanley's ground after twice invading the pitch.

Extra police were drafted in after fears that York City fans were about to cause trouble at last Saturday's highly-charged match which ended in a 2-1 defeat for the visitors.

York fans ran on to the pitch just before the start of the second half. More then invaded the pitch after York's equaliser in the 63rd minute.

Police were called to the Interlink Express Stadium at 4pm after reports that 20 or 30 City fans were becoming rowdy.

Inspector Anne Scott, of Accrington Police, said: "There were about 1,000 York City fans at the match and there was a slight disturbance.

"We had no intelligence beforehand to suggest there would be any trouble, but patrol officers were sent to join officers already at the ground for the remaining 45 minutes and they encouraged people to leave the ground at the end of the match."

One York City fan was arrested just before full-time for a public order offence but no other arrests were made.

Chief Executive of Accrington Stanley, Rob Heys, said: "It was no more than 10 or 12 York fans who had a bit too much to drink and got a bit over-excited. As they equalised some fans surged forward onto the pitch, but the day passed without any major incidents.

"We always review any incidents to see how we could do things better. All our stewards are trained to NVQ level and did a magnificent job.''

The club had a meeting with the police on Monday and agreed that the situation had been handled well.

Mr Heys, added: "There were accusations about Stanley players inciting the York fans and we will be speaking to the players asking them not to direct their goal celebrations towards away fans."

In reply to allegations that the club created problems for York fans by delaying their entrance into the ground just before the start of play, Mr Heys said: "We had 600 away supporters in the ground and having one turnstile open is within the requirements for that number of fans, but as a backlog developed about 10 minutes before the game we opened another gate."

Stanley's victory places them third in the Nationwide Conference just one point above their York rivals.