Hammers reported over linesman incident

West Ham could be in hot water with the Football Association after the Football League confirmed that assistant referee Trevor Massey was hit by coins thrown from the Hammers end at the Millennium Stadium in Saturday’s Division One play-off final.

The east London club missed out on an immediate return to the Barclaycard Premiership when Neil Shipperley hit the winner in Cardiff for Crystal Palace.

David Connolly and Bobby Zamora put the ball in the net for West Ham shortly afterwards, only for both strikes to be ruled out for offside by Massey, who was pelted with coins and bottle tops as a result.

Football League spokesman John Nagle said: “I can confirm the incident will be included in referee Graham Poll’s match report to the FA.”

Many of West Ham’s fans almost missed out on the match after purchasing tickets which never arrived in the post.

Around 900 tickets went missing, and supporters who arrived without one had to be moved to a neutral area of the stadium.

Fears the tickets could have been stolen and sold to other unsuspecting supporters meant those fans who had missed out through no fault of their own were put in an area usually kept clear to help segregate the two opposing sides.

The match itself passed off peacefully despite the intense rivalry between the two London clubs and their army of followers.

South Wales police confirmed only two arrests in Cardiff for public order offences by 7pm on Saturday night.

One man was arrested for being drunk and disorderly while another was arrested for invading the pitch, and a third for indecent exposure.

There were also three arrests for illegal ticket touting and one for a drugs offence.

A police spokesman said: “There were no major problems.”