Colchester United were playing Walsall in League Two when a drone was spotted over the Jobserve Community Stadium, forcing referee Carl Brook to suspend the match.
Drone sighting causes 4 minute delay (Image: Sky Sports)
The League Two game between Colchester United and Walsall was forced to be temporarily suspended after a drone was spotted flying over the stadium. Officials stopped the match in the 81st minute with Saturday’s match tied at 1-1.
Referee Karl Brooke ordered both players to leave the pitch at Colchester’s Jobserve Community Stadium. The home team told X: “Play was paused due to a drone flying over the pitch.
Walsall added: “Play was paused with both teams off the pitch as drones appeared and were flying over the stadium. Isn’t this something you see every day?!”
Sky Sports reporters watched the match and updated fans during the Soccer Saturday programme. “We have about eight minutes left and there are no players on the pitch,” they explained.
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“There were drones flying right above the playing surface here at the stadium, so the referee removed them. So the players left the pitch very quickly. There was an announcement that it was because of the drones that the game was stopped for the time being.”
“We watched it hover over the stadium and then we saw it disappear from view and drift to the far edge, descend into the sky and then apparently land.”
After a four-minute delay, the players returned to the pitch and the match resumed. However, neither team was able to decide on a winning goal and the match ended at 1-1.
The time between goals was just four minutes. Colchester winger Harry Anderson canceled out Walsall centre-back Harrison Burke’s opening goal just after the hour mark.
If they had continued to pick up all three points, Walsall would have been eighth and out of the play-offs on goal difference. As for Colchester, they sit in 14th place, nine points out of the play-off places.
This isn’t the first time we’ve seen a British football match interrupted due to drones. Last season, a Premier League match between Brentford and Fulham had to be interrupted because a drone was hovering over the stadium.
At the beginning of 2023, Southampton and Aston Villa were also forced to postpone matches for the same reason. And in 2020, Rotherham United and Sheffield Wednesday had their Championship match interrupted by a drone.
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