Some of Town's disabled following had a less than impressive time of it when they visited St James' Park on Saturday. They were told by stewards that they mustn't sing for their team and then made to leave three minutes before the end, missing the late drama.

Town fan Tony Hammond was a fan involved: "I was in the disabled section with my wife and daughter who is a wheelchair user.

"We were separated from the main group of Town fans, this we were told was due to the fact that Ipswich had not taken up their full allocation of 5,000 tickets."

"When game kicked off we started to cheer the lads on and then two stewards told us to be quiet due to the fact that we were sitting amongst the Newcastle fans.

"However, as my 12-year-old daughter had all her Ipswich gear on I suggested that all the people sitting around us had already worked out that we were Town fans.

"I also pointed out that we were not shouting abuse at any of the Newcastle players or supporters but only trying to give our team encouragement. We continued to give the lads all the encouragement we could through the game.

But Tony and his family's afternoon of steward-related strife was to get worse as the game neared a close: "About three minutes from the end we were then told we had to leave early as we were amongst the Newcastle fans. We therefore missed the penalty incident."

Tony says he has watched Town away from disabled sections on many occasions and has not previously had a similar experience: "We have followed the Town from Morecambe to Milan and we have never come across this problem before. Often in the disabled section at visiting grounds we sit with the home supporters and never have any problems. This even includes Millwall."

Tony asked Newcastle for an explanation and they apologised and said that the stewards in that section were not regular staff: "We have contacted Newcastle and they have apologised and explained that the area we were sitting in on Saturday was manned by stewards from outside contractors."

Tony is hoping that by highlighting their experience the same thing won't befall other supporters in future. Some fans have suggested that compensation may be due to him but Tony says he is not looking for that: "I am not interested in compensation, only to ensure that this does not happen to anybody else in the future."

Photo: Action Images

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