Volz cleared of blame over spectator injury

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Andrew Feinberg

White House Correspondent

The Fulham full-back, Moritz Volz, will not face police action after he collided with a pensioner during the Premiership match with Portsmouth at Fratton Park on Monday night. The pensioner was injured in the collision but no charges are planned against the German.

Hampshire Police have issued a statement saying they will take no action "for what was an accident" after Volz tumbled into the crowd during Fulham's 4-3 defeat at Portsmouth and appeared to catch a spectator on the head with his boot.

Volz had been pushed into the crowd by Pompey's new striker Ricardo Fuller but when other fans saw blood drip from the unfortunate spectator's head they reacted towards Volz, who was clearly trying to apologise when stewards intervened.

The injured spectator was taken to hospital for stitches but a Hampshire police spokeswoman said: "We are not investigating the matter and so it is not our place to comment."

The Portsmouth manager, Harry Redknapp, and his counterpart at Fulham, Chris Coleman, both also exonerated Volz, who switched to Craven Cottage from Highbury last season in a £500,000 move, but the latter used the incident to criticise the referee Barry Knight for not adding on sufficient stoppage time.

"Volz was in the crowd for three minutes and each side made two substitutions but the ref only added on three minutes instead of the five or six it should have been," Coleman said. And although Fulham played well enough in midfield and attack to warrant winning the game, Coleman saved his biggest criticism for his defenders.

"Some of it seemed a circus act," he said. "When the ball came into our area it looked like a bomb scare. We dangled legs and were tentative and I don't know where that has come from.

"We had 15 clean sheets last season, the third or fourth best goals-against record in the Premier and were always hard to break down. But you would see better defending than that against Portsmouth on the local park.

"I've still got faith in the lads because I know they can bounce back but defenders have not been doing the job they are paid to do."