Ipswich Town’s George, Bent abused by Despots

IPSWICH TOWN could make an official complaint after two of their players were racially abused in the 1-0 UEFA Cup defeat of Sartid.

Marcus Bent, who scored the goal in Smeverevo which sealed an aggregate 2-1 first-round win over the Yugoslavian, and Finidi George, were the prime targets for home fans. Sartid’s supporters, nicknamed Despots, abused the duo intermittently throughout the game. Ipswich Town striker Bent said he had been racially abused by the crowd in his team’s 1-0 victory

“It was a hostile crowd,” Bent told BBC radio.

“There was a lot of racist abuse. But the boys dealt with it, I dealt with it and all that really matters is we came away with a 1-0 win.”

Bent’s goal gave English first division club Ipswich a 2-1 aggregate victory in the first round tie.

The European governing body UEFA may now investigate the matter having already declared its intention this season to clamp down on racist abuse directed at players.

UEFA is already examining allegations of racist abuse aimed at Arsenal players in their Champions League match against PSV Eindhoven in the Netherlands on September 25.

Fulham players claimed they were abused in their UEFA Cup match against Hajduk Split in Croatia two weeks ago.

Liverpool’s Emile Heskey also said he was abused during a Champions League match in Spain against Valencia last month

Bent said: “They (Sartid) are a technical side but quite slow at the back so we tried to get in behind them, luckily enough we came away with a 1-0 win.”

Sartid manager Jovica Skoro was diplomatic as his side’s first-ever

European campaign was ended, saying: “The result was completely justified, Ipswich were the better team.”