Football match delayed as floodlights catch fire

Elliott Moore hit Oxford United’s late winner to settle a dramatic League One game with Wigan Athletic delayed for almost an hour by a half-time floodlight fire at the Kassam Stadium.

After the game got back under way at 17:45 GMT, there were three goals.

Callum Lang put Wigan ahead before Sam Winnall and Moore turned it round.

“We were coming out for the second half and you could smell burning through the air vents and we were told to quickly evacuate the building,” said U’s boss Karl Robinson.

“There was a leak up in one of the rooms, which contributes to the floodlights and that’s where the burning was coming from.”

The match had already been delayed by 24 hours because of the freezing weather, before then being put back further to a 16:00 GMT kick-off, to allow the pitch further time to thaw and give the game a better chance of taking place.

After a brief delay, players and staff were allowed to re-enter the stadium, which is also a local Covid-19 vaccination hub.

“It’s another strange scenario that has been put in front of us,” added Robinson. “The most important thing is that the vaccinations carry on as football is secondary to some things going on right now.”

When the game did get back under way, Robinson’s men did enough to climb three places in the table as they extended their recent run to just one defeat in 16 games.

Lang fired the Latics in front in the 57th minute with a smart turn-and-finish from George Johnston’s pass.

But Winnall levelled on 72 minutes with a downward header at the far post from Brandon Barker’s pinpoint cross.

Centre-back Moore then bundled in the winner seven minutes from time, stabbing home from four yards after getting his head to Mark Sykes’ cross.