{"id":28144,"date":"2026-03-30T04:15:33","date_gmt":"2026-03-30T04:15:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/2026\/03\/30\/efl-match-halted-after-referee-stops-play-due-to-drone-and-forces-star-player-off-pitch\/"},"modified":"2026-03-30T04:15:33","modified_gmt":"2026-03-30T04:15:33","slug":"efl-match-halted-after-referee-stops-play-due-to-drone-and-forces-star-player-off-pitch","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/2026\/03\/30\/efl-match-halted-after-referee-stops-play-due-to-drone-and-forces-star-player-off-pitch\/","title":{"rendered":"EFL match halted after referee stops play due to drone and forces star player off pitch"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div id=\"article-body\">\n<h2 class=\"LeadText_lead-text__wd_PA __className_565dd1\" data-testid=\"leadtext\">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.<\/h2>\n<div class=\"ImageEmbed_image-embed__0T8WX ImageEmbed_image-lead__Ti3qQ\" data-testid=\"leadimage\" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-articleid=\"36938790\">\n<div class=\"ImageEmbed_image-container__2AIQm\">\n<figure class=\"Figure_figure__Uce4f\" style=\"--figure-aspect-ratio:1.5\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Colchester vs Walsall\" loading=\"eager\" sizes=\"(max-width: 508px) 508px, (max-width: 615px) 615px, 1200px\" src=\"https:\/\/i2-prod.mirror.co.uk\/article36938790.ece\/ALTERNATES\/s1200f\/0_Screenshot-2026-03-28-at-214946.jpg\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i2-prod.mirror.co.uk\/article36938790.ece\/ALTERNATES\/s508\/0_Screenshot-2026-03-28-at-214946.jpg 508w, https:\/\/i2-prod.mirror.co.uk\/article36938790.ece\/ALTERNATES\/s615\/0_Screenshot-2026-03-28-at-214946.jpg 615w, https:\/\/i2-prod.mirror.co.uk\/article36938790.ece\/ALTERNATES\/s1200f\/0_Screenshot-2026-03-28-at-214946.jpg 1200w\"\/><\/figure>\n<\/div><figcaption class=\"ImageCaption_caption__j7HRu\" data-testid=\"image-caption\">\n<p aria-label=\"The drone sighting caused a four-minute delay\" class=\"ImageCaption_caption-title__ccyQU\" data-testid=\"caption-title\">Drone sighting causes 4 minute delay (Image: Sky Sports)<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/div>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\">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&#8217;s match tied at 1-1.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\">Referee Karl Brooke ordered both players to leave the pitch at Colchester&#8217;s Jobserve Community Stadium. The home team told X: &#8220;Play was paused due to a drone flying over the pitch.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\">Walsall added: &#8220;Play was paused with both teams off the pitch as drones appeared and were flying over the stadium. Isn&#8217;t this something you see every day?!&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\">Sky Sports reporters watched the match and updated fans during the Soccer Saturday programme. \u201cWe have about eight minutes left and there are no players on the pitch,\u201d they explained.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\">Join us on Facebook! For the latest news, analysis and more on our Mirror Football Facebook page<\/p>\n<p><span data-testid=\"readmore\" class=\"ReadMore_readmore-prefix__xS44r __className_7e1458\">read more: <span class=\"ReadMore_readmore-link__eF9pN\">National League match ends in brawl with players separated and likened to &#8220;a 3am city center incident&#8221;<\/span><\/span><span data-testid=\"readmore\" class=\"ReadMore_readmore-prefix__xS44r __className_7e1458\">read more: <span class=\"ReadMore_readmore-link__eF9pN\">Senegal unveils AFCON trophy as stars defy controversial decision to strip them of title<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\">&#8220;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.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\">&#8220;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.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\">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.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\">The time between goals was just four minutes. Colchester winger Harry Anderson canceled out Walsall centre-back Harrison Burke&#8217;s opening goal just after the hour mark.<\/p>\n<div class=\"HtmlEmbed_container__x6svQ\">\n<figure data-testid=\"embed-placeholder\" class=\"EmbedPlaceholder_figure__NLMFl undefined false\"><figcaption>Content cannot be displayed without consent<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\">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.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\">This isn&#8217;t the first time we&#8217;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.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\">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.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\">Join our new WhatsApp community and receive Mirror Football content every day. Community members also receive special offers, promotions, and advertisements from us and our partners. If you don&#8217;t like our community, you can always check out. If you are interested, please read our privacy notice.<\/p>\n<figure data-testid=\"embed-placeholder\" class=\"EmbedPlaceholder_figure__NLMFl undefined false\"><figcaption>Content cannot be displayed without consent<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.mirror.co.uk\/sport\/football\/news\/efl-colchester-walsall-league-two-36938616\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>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<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":28145,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-28144","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-news"},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v25.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>EFL match halted after referee stops play due to drone and forces star player off pitch - EPL VIP \u2013 Latest English Premier League News &amp; Updates<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/2026\/03\/30\/efl-match-halted-after-referee-stops-play-due-to-drone-and-forces-star-player-off-pitch\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"EFL match halted after referee stops play due to drone and forces star player off pitch - EPL VIP \u2013 Latest English Premier League News &amp; Updates\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"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. 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