Paul Heckingbottom says more 'must be done' to protect players following pitch invasion incidents

Sheffield United boss Paul Heckingbottom has shared his views following the unsavoury scenes that followed the Blades play-off semi final heartbreak just last week.

Nottingham Forest's Brice Samba was to be the hero, as United crashed out on penalties, thus ending their 21/22 campaign in its tracks.

Both Billy Sharp and Oli McBurnie were caught up in the subsequent scenes upon the full time whistle, with Sharp needing stitches after a fan attacked the 36-year-old.

With time now to reflect following the defeat, Heckingbottom has condemned the actions shown by a number of Forest fans.

"I've experienced it as a player on the receiving end, as a manager and now one of our players, one of my players suffering an attack like that is shocking," began the 44-year-old, as he spoke to club media earlier this week.

"This is not me speaking against Forest because we have seen a lot of it all over football and the frustrating thing is we know it's going to happen in these types of games. We know it's going to happen at the end of the season. We have been saying for a number years it's only a matter of time before something like that happens.

"We have to use this so that nothing gets worse and if we are sitting here next season and seeing similar incidents, whether the thing with Patrick [Vieira] walking off at Goodison Park. Until you have been there you don't know how threatening it is.

"I have wrote letters to the LMA and the PFA as we, as their members, we want them to fight for us to protect us and I've also wrote letters to the EFL and the FA as they also have a duty of care to protect people when they are in their place of work."