Plymouth Argyle have their say on the pitch invader during the 3-0 thrashing by Hull City at Home Park on Saturday afternoon.
The Pilgrims have condemned the actions of an ‘opportunistic supporter’ who ran onto the field during the League One game against leaders.
The club have since reported the incident to police and will offer their backing in an investigation.
It happened during the second half of the fixture, which was behind closed doors, when a person, thought to be a Hull supporter, somehow got onto the playing surface.
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Sky Sports reporter Michelle Owen tweeted on what she had saw: “Bizarre incident at Home Park in the second half when a Hull fan broke into the stadium and ran on the pitch and tried to get a selfie with a Hull player.
“Everyone was confused because he looked part of the Hull setup. (Argyle manager) Ryan Lowe said he will be asking how it happened.”
Hull journalist @bazdjcooper wrote: “A fan with a Black and Amber scarf has just come from the far end, run onto the pitch, waved his scarf and ran off again. Not at all weird. #hcafc”
The fan could be seen wearing a Black and Amber scarf, before then departing the pitch unaided and then appearing to be apprehended by a security guard as they looked to make a hasty exit from the ground.
No footage of what happened has been uploaded, it was talked about as fans watched the game on iFollow, however the cameras panned away from what was going on with the invader.
A club spokesman told Plymouth Live: “Plymouth Argyle can confirm that today’s incident has been reported to the police for investigation.
“We condemn the actions of the opportunistic supporter and will support police in their investigation.”
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The incident left both sides confused mid-game, with Plymouth manager Ryan Lowe outlining his desire to know how the scenes was allowed to unfold in the second half.
It came just three minutes after Greg Docherty had made it 3-0, following goals from Keane Lewis-Potter (11′) and Josh Magennis (58′).
“Plymouth Argyle can confirm that today’s incident has been reported to the police for investigation,” the club told Plymouth Live.
“We condemn the actions of the opportunistic supporter and will support police in their investigation.”
It was a second successive defeat by that scoreline for Plymouth and leaves them in 16th position in the League One table with five games to go.
Lowe said: “What matters to me is I need to get a team and a squad that can do what Hull City are doing to teams, and be men and be ruthless, and pass the ball the right side and be aggressive in everything they do.
“That’s what they were. Some of them have been together for a little while and they have got real leaders in there.
“It’s something we would love to do in terms of the summer recruitment, because we want men and we want men who are going to dig people out.
“I’m seeing them (Hull) digging their players out at 3-0 up and shouting the right things about stopping giving the ball away.
“We are a little bit soft at the moment. I know we have got a young group but ‘Come on, step up, be counted for’.
“A lot of their players are going to be playing in the Championship next season, and we are not.”
When asked how far he felt Argyle were from being at that level, Lowe paused for a moment and then replied: “We are quite far”.
He went on: “Look, I haven’t got the money to go and spend, and go and get players of Hull’s calibre, not a chance.
“So we have to be reasonable in that department, but what we have got to do is we have got to build and we have got to keep learning.
“We have got to keep putting the game plans together for the lads. We do that every week and then it’s over to them.
“We can’t account for individual errors, soft passes, giving the ball away. That’s over to the personnel in the team.”
Lowe added: “The recruitment has already started. We need promotion winners, we need men, we need people who just do it when you tell them to do it.
“One Premier League manager once said to me it’s easy for them because they coach the best players in the world.
“How easy it is, I’m not sure, but there is a good reason behind it. We are coaching a young group who are trying to get to achieve that.
“We keep saying to them keep learning, keep doing the right things, but it’s never going to work for you if you keep making individual errors
“So you have got to learn, you have got to listen and you have got to be savvy and you have got to take on instruction well.”
Lowe said: “It was men against boys in some departments I thinki, but in saying that we were in the game until we gift them a second goal.
“The first goal, I felt we could have done better with it and stood on the ball at the free-kick.
“We said that they (Hull) are good on turnovers and we had to make sure we looked after the ball, we didn’t.
“It gives them an opportunity to go up the pitch and slide one of their better players (Lewis-Potter) in, and it’s touch and finish.
“The second goal is killer for me because we had the ball, we gave it away and then we got it back.
“It’s a mistake where we should just pass it back. We are looking for a foul and that has really killed us off.”
Lowe added: “Take nothing away from Hull, we were well beaten from a better team.
“But, in saying that, we gifted them definitely one goal, and I thought the third goal we could have done better with because we had possession of the ball.
“The turnover wasn’t good enough on our behalf, we gave it away, and they have gone up the other end and scored.”
The Tigers are now eight points clear of third place, with just five games remaining and promotion looking likely.
“We had to be at it from the off,” said City boss Grant McCann.
“Plymouth have shown how good they are at home this season, particularly in the first 45 minutes of home games, so we needed to start on the front foot.
“It was a really good opening goal from us – a great position and pass from Mallik and a great finish from Keane – and we were pleased to come in at half time 1-0 up.
“Defensively I felt we were good and Plymouth didn’t threaten us too much.”
“I thought the boys were excellent today.
“Again a surprise has been thrown at us in terms of the opposition’s system. We’ve seen Plymouth play predominantly with a 4-4-2, but once we saw them setting up with three at the back it gave us an opportunity to press high, get our front three against their back three and to get Callum Elder and Lewie Coyle aggressive against their wing-backs.
“I thought we won most of our individual battles all over the pitch and we looked a threat every time we went forward. I’m really pleased with the result and really pleased with the performance.”
Fans reacted as Plymouth have their say on the pitch invader during Hull’s thrashing at Home Park…
If that guy has come all the way from here in Hull, he deserves some sort of prize just for the commitment to travel all that way 🤣🤣🤣
— Josh (@Mrjlc93) April 10, 2021
@SportsHull: Legend has it, Ehab has gone off the rails
@AndyMedcalf: We’re mahoosive
@SWood18: Ace. Really ace. #hcafc
@davidmorrod85: I bloody love this club! 😂😂 #hcafc
@brianstokes92: Quite the scene in League 1.
@TommyFletcher96: Plymouth away pitch invasion, incredible
@RMiddo96: What a legend
@MattyHC5: What a hero #hcafc
@MattFrampton: Got there quick @bobbihadgraft
@BenMullaney1: And everywhere we follow, we follow, we follow.. #hcafc
@russhrew: If ground security is akin to Plymouth’s defending at the moment it would have been quite easy for him…
@bobballardsport: At least it wasn’t a streaker this time!
@David1965De: He was probably quicker than the Argyle players
@markdh1976: Extra credit for originality surely. Not heard of that being done before
@HCOSC_Official: A Hull City fan has just run onto the pitch and tried to take a selfie with Callum Elder. 700 mile round trip, that’s an expensive picture #hcafc
@Terry06681277: A bit worrying for the players that somebody managed to get into the ground unlawfully and onto the pitch. Poor lad though had possibly a horrendous journey and was clearly intent in taking back home a souvenir.
@dj123cba83: Long way to travel for a photo with a player. Joking aside surely the stadiums should be locked while games are played so fans can’t sneak in.
@flareypwns: well at least he wasn’t a naked streaker lmao #hcafc
@davidmorrod85: I bloody love this club!😂😂#hcafc
@CornishBankie: Seems security at @Only1Argyle is as good as our defence. #pafc
@gompstomp78: WTF
@JwPafc: He got closer to Hull players then Argyle did! #pafc
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