Preston steward trampled by horse at Blackpool cup tie

A steward has been injured after being trampled by a police horse during a pitch invasion at the end of Preston's League Cup victory against Lancashire rivals Blackpool.

The steward was on the pitch at Deepdale helping clear supporters after the home side's late winner prompted fans to run on to the playing surface.

A Preston spokesman told BBC Sport: "A steward was injured by a police horse."

"He was assessed by St John Ambulance for a bruised shoulder and sent home."

The steward was struck by a police horse as it began to canter across the pitch, while another horse - also helping with crowd dispersal - clipped the steward as he lay on the ground.

Television cameras showed him walking away from the incident before being taken to hospital.

Tom Clarke headed a late winner as League One side Preston beat Blackpool of the Championship.

Blackpool manager Paul Ince was furious with the pitch invasion after his side's defeat.

"This is the problem in football and we talk about the respect campaign and you see enough incidents in football where fans are allowed to run on the pitch," he told BBC Sport.

"We've seen goalkeepers get hit and players get punched. When are we going to learn?

"When you've got 200 Preston fans running on the pitch and my players are still on the pitch, who knows? There's no control and is it going to take someone getting stabbed before we wake up and smell the coffee?

"This is a big derby, is there enough stewarding in the ground?

"We'll have to wait for something to happen to do something about it. There have been enough incidents over the last two or three years that we really should be getting our heads together about it."

Preston boss Simon Grayson said: "It was an intense atmosphere and I said before the game that anyone that thought this was a quiet derby match were in for a rude awakening and it showed that and the scenes at the end shouldn't spoil what was a great occasion for the football club.

"It was just people being very boisterous. Hopefully there wasn't anything that was too untoward. You can expect it because it means so much to the football club to win a local derby but hopefully there won't be any repercussions."