Maidstone United fan John Ryan, 59, tells how he fell from the upper tier of the stand at Ipswich Town while celebrating his side’s FA Cup opener and missed the rest of the game

A Maidstone fan who fell from the upper tier of a stand at Ipswich while celebrating a goal has described the moment landed on the crowd below.

John Ryan, 59, was kicked out of Portman Road following the incident and had to listen to the rest of his side’s famous fourth-round victory on the radio.

Ryan told of an “unpleasant” landing on to unsuspecting home fans in the lower tier of the Cobbold Stand after being sent flying as supporters celebrated Lamar Reynolds’ 43rd-minute strike in Maidstone’s 2-1 victory.

He’d had a few drinks but there was no way of stopping the fall.

“We’d just scored and we were celebrating and, next thing I know, I fell over the front because there’s nothing to hold on to,” said Ryan, who was two rows back in the upper tier.

“I rolled down and landed on the people below.

“People run forward, like they do when you score, and I think I might have got a shove from behind and I fell over.

“The barrier at the front isn’t that high and when I got pushed, I was over it and there was nothing to hold on to.

“I couldn’t stop myself. It was an unpleasant landing, a mixture of people and seats.

“Nobody was hurt but obviously they were all complaining – they weren’t happy.

“They all got up and started shouting at me and then the stewards came and took me away.

“I got checked by the medical people and that was it.”

Ryan, who’s missed only 12 games in 11 years of following the Stones, wasn’t allowed to watch the rest of the game.

It meant he missed Sam Corne’s winner and the full-time scenes as Maidstone celebrated the greatest result in their history.

He said: “It wasn’t the stewards’ decision to throw me out. They were fantastic. One of them even got my hat back for me.

“They were on the phone to people –