Motherwell lodge complaint after Danish yobs pelt goalkeeper Darren Randolph

Aug 20 2010 Gavin Berry

Odense v Motherwell Image 2

Motherwell made an official complaint to UEFA last night after missiles were thrown at goalkeeper Darren Randolph by Odense fans.The Irishman claimed to have had lighters and coins hurled at him during the 2-1 defeat in Denmark and the incident was included in Hungarian referee Zsolt Szabo’s report.Odense could now be hit with a hefty fine.A Well spokesman said: “We can confirm that two lighters were handed to the fourth official after they were thrown at Darren.”Darren also said there were coins thrown. We will take our complaints to the appropriate people at UEFA who are responsible for safety within the stadium.”

Meanwhile, Tom Hateley admitted he wasn’t even planning to go for glory with the free-kick that kept Well’s group stage dream alive – until assistant gaffer Archie Knox ordered him to have a crack.The Englishman curled home a cracker in injury time for a crucial away goal after the Steelmen had looked down and out at 2-0, having lost Steve Jennings to a red card.After initially trying to cross into the box, Hateley was given a second chance when the ref ordered a retake.Hateley said: “The keeper took steps to his left and the bench shouted at me to shoot because I was running out of time.”I couldn’t hear the bench but Stephen Hammell told me Archie was shouting to shoot. So I thought I’d go for it and if I missed I could blame them.”The keeper was standing on his far post as if he was waiting for the cross but I probably wouldn’t have shot if they hadn’t shouted.”The goal was the perfect moment yet we all feel we could have had so much more out of the game. We had good chances.”Beaming boss Craig Brown claimed it would have been an injustice if his side had not scored, insisting they’d been denied two penalties and had Jennings harshly sent off.He said: “We didn’t deserve to lose – I thought we were worth a draw.”This is far from over. We showed we are as good a team as them and, if we play well at Fir Park, we have a chance. We have the away goal so 1-0 would do for us next week.”It was a wonderful free-kick and we played well. The ordering-off was two soft yellows and the Danes made the most of it.”We also had two strong penalty claims.There was a blatant hand ball and Jamie Murphy was pushed off the ball.”

(Daily Record )

Guzan joined Villa from Los Angeles side Chivas USA in 2008

Uefa is waiting to view the referee’s report before deciding if action will be taken over Rapid Vienna fans’ bombardment of Brad Guzan on Thursday.

The Aston Villa reserve goalkeeper had lighters, coins and drinks hurled at him during the first leg of his side’s 1-1 Europa League qualifier in Austria.”All the beverages hit, but the other things – not too many,” said Guzan.”It’s obviously not something anybody should have to cope with, and it’s not something you like to see.”At one point, the American, who deputises for veteran first-choice keeper Brad Friedel during cup competitions, picked up one of the objects and handed it to Luxembourg referee Alain Hamer, who in turn passed it on to the fourth official.Guzan, though, was not overly perturbed by the barrage after suffering similar treatment on international duty.

606: DEBATE How should Uefa deal with Vienna crowd incidents?

“It’s part of the game, part of the environment,” added the 25-year-old, who made three superb saves to deny Vienna a victory after Atdhe Nuhiu had netted in reply to Barry Bannan’s opener for the visitors.“It’s a situation when you go into a hostile environment you know the fans aren’t going to be too kind to you and you try to get on with it.”Playing with the national team in central America and some of those countries, I’ve seen it before.”As to whether Uefa do anything, that’s not for me to decide.”

( BBC Football )