'Feared for my life' – Stevens recalls violent fan attack on team-mate

Enda Stevens was up close and personal when team-mate Billy Sharp was violently headbutted amidst a Nottingham Forest fans’ pitch invasion following their play-off victory over Sheffield United.

And the Ireland international admitted that he was afraid of his life when caught up in the madness of the overexuberant celebrations on the pitch, with little or no security being offered by near-by police.

Stevens was on hand to help tend to the prone Sharp who took the full force of the unprovoked attack, but remained bemused and bewildered as to why proper assistance wasn’t forthcoming.

"Shocking," said Stevens, when asked about the recent incident. "Over the course of that week or so, it was happening continuously. I was out there with him and it was just an absolute disgrace.

"The thing is with that, you're actually fearing for your life. You're on a pitch and thinking 'I can be attacked at any moment here'.

"There was no help for us, nobody there to protect us, there were policemen beside us who didn't help us and didn't want to get involved.

"They seen it happen first hand and done nothing and then a few of our lads ended up trying to protect Billy when the second fella came up into his face.

"Now it seems the police are coming after them and questioning them for what they have done, but all we could do was protect ourselves and help each other out."

An ongoing, if recently revived post-match celebration among fans in England in recent weeks, and Stevens believes that it must be stamped out before something equally harrowing happens on the pitch.

"It's something in football that needs to change. I don't really blame the stewards because it's very hard for them to contain 25,000 or 30,000 Nottingham Forest fans, but the situation