Racist chanting forces seven-minute stoppage as Swansea win at Millwall

Swansea extend lead at top despite unsavoury stoppage

Substitute Ronald scored a last-minute winner to keep Swansea top of the Championship after their match at Millwall was held up for almost seven minutes due to a complaint about racist chanting at the Den.

Referee Edward Duckworth halted the match in the 65th minute and walked to the dugouts to speak with Lions manager Alex Neil, Swans counterpart Vítor Matos and fourth official Ruebyn Ricardo. A security guard was also on the scene, with the referee seeming to point to an area in the stands behind the Swansea dugout.

When play eventually resumed it was announced in the stadium that there had been a report of racist chanting, adding that police were working to identify any offenders using CCTV.

Eom identified as target

Swansea head coach Vitor Matos said the lengthy stoppage during the 1-0 win was a result of racist abuse aimed at Ji-sung Eom.

The South Korea winger was among the Swansea substitutes, and had been warming up on the side of the pitch when the Championship game was brought to a halt. Following the stoppage, an announcement was made over the speakers at The Den confirming there had been alleged chants of racism and that police were working to identify any offenders using CCTV.

"The situation was with Ji-sung Eom," said Matos. "The referee followed the protocol for these sort of situations, they did the right thing. Millwall also did the right thing to get the protocol moving on."

"We all know there is no space for this, this kind of situation should not happen. When they do happen we are here to stand with the player, in this case it is our player."

Matos added he was saddened by the abuse aimed at Eom, but said the rest of the squad will rally around their team-mate.

"He is a smart kid, he is not happy with the situation but he knows we will stay with him and follow the situation as long as we can," added Matos. "Millwall did the right thing by announcing there is no place for this sort of thing. I'm happy with how it was handled, but really sad that it happened. Now it is about evaluating the situation and we'll see what happens."

Millwall stated they were "aware of an alleged, individual incident of discriminatory abuse towards a Swansea City player during the second half" of the game.

"The club operates a zero-tolerance policy towards any form of discriminatory abuse. Any individual found to have engaged in such behaviour will face the strongest possible action," added the hosts. "The club is working alongside the relevant authorities to establish the facts and is unable to comment further as tonight's alleged incident is the subject of an ongoing police investigation, which the club fully supports."

Late drama preserves top spot

The unsavoury incident could not take the gloss off a dramatic last-gasp 1-0 victory for the table-toppers. Victory kept Swansea two points clear at the top of the Championship, with the Welsh club putting together their best start to a season in a century.