Shocked Braintree Town Fans claim they were assaulted and intimidated by thugs after their away game against league leaders Salford City at the weekend.

Club bosses reported crowd control problems at the end of the Vanarama National League fixture with Salford City FC on Saturday.

The Iron were denied victory by an injury time equaliser.

Between 40 and 60 Braintree supporters travelled to the game and were allocated a segregated area, but fans were immediately confronted as they left after the game by a group of yobs who were allegedly home supporters.

Braintree bosses said the thugs subjected away fans to severe intimidation and physically attacked some supporters.

One is believed to have suffered a broken nose in the clash.

Braintree Town chairman Lee Harding was called to the scene and said he saw three stewards keeping the rival supporters apart.

He said: “I asked to speak to the safety officer or a senior steward and was met with an abusive response.

“I replied that I was the visiting club chairman and concerned about the well-being of our supporters.

“I then spent a few minutes explaining their responsibilities as stewards, especially reminding them of the need to keep segregated groups of supporters apart, even after a game had finished.

“One man shook his head at me and walked away.

“However, one steward did then apologise for the problems and advised that they had only just started stewarding games and were still learning.” Mr Harding said Braintree supporters rarely look for confrontation and would have been subdued after the late equaliser, with the final score being 2-2.

The result left Braintree anchored to the bottom of the table.

Mr Harding said stewarding arrangements for a crowd approaching 3,000 appeared to be lacking and those who were in the right position seemed inexperienced.

He added: “Those stewards or staff I spoke with were either confrontational or struggling to meet their basic responsibilities.”

A spokesman for Salford City said: “We are investigating the incident but are already pretty sure that the perpetrators were not Salford City supporters.

“They arrived in the vicinity from elsewhere at the end of the game. We have examined footage and the perpetrators are not known to us.

www.braintreeandwithamtimes.co.uk October 18, 2018 NEWS 5 “We deeply regret this unprecedented incident – visiting supporters have never been subjected to this sort of incident previously.”

But Mr Harding insists the troublemakers were in the home supporters’ end of the ground.

He said: “About two or three minutes before the end of the game we saw a group exit the home end and they are the ones who made towards our supporters.”

Greater Manchester Police are understood to be investigating the incident.