Portsmouth supporter Mike Hurdle (in jeans) takes over the role of fourth official during the clash with Newport
That stunning moment when Football fan replaces fourth
official during Portsmouth's win against Newport County over the weekend. On Saturday during a match when Portsmouth beat League Two
basement side, Newport County,
the day took quite a twist for one supporter who
sat in the stands.
After the half time, changes were made. But it wasn’t
players that were swapped during the break, it was in fact the officials, with
a fan from the Portsmouth end answering a call heard over the tannoy machine in
Wales.
Injury to the referee meant Wayne Barratt had to take on the role of referee for the second half in Wales
Staff at Rodney Parade launched an appeal to find a
qualified official to slot in on the sidelines after referee James Adcock had
picked up an injury in the opening half. And up stepped supporter Mike Hurdle to take on the role of
the fourth official after Wayne Barratt had stepped up to become the man in the
middle.
Fortunately for Hurdle the game petered out with little
incident as Portsmouth continued their fine form to go second in the table,
three points behind leaders Plymouth.
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