A TEENAGE U’s fan has been banned from watching his team for three years after running on the pitch.

Colchester United followers Liam Martin, 18, and David Read, 19, stormed onto the playing area during the away game against Cambridge United at the Cambs Glass Stadium on March 4.

The pair were among a group of fans who left the stands to celebrate after mistakenly thinking striker Macauley Bonne had equalised. The goal was disallowed.

Both were arrested and appeared at Cambridge Magistrates’ Court.

Jane Foster, prosecuting, said: “A number of away fans started to make their way down from the stand to the pitch side.

“Police officers tried to prevent a pitch invasion, but it was unsuccessful and some away fans were successful in getting onto the football pitch while the game was still going on.”

Martin, of Hubert Road, Colchester, told the court: “I’ve been going to football since I was really young, I know what I did was wrong.

“I went on to the pitch because it was one of those things done in the moment.”

Robert Perkins, mitigating for Read, of Keelers Way, Great Horkesley, said: “It was a crucial point in the game but also a crucial point in the league.

“He jumped onto the pitch in celebration; it’s something he’s never done before in hundreds of matches and something he will never do again.

“Imposing a football banning order would be quite draconian. There has to be a very real risk of future violence and disorder and in this case it might be unnecessary.”

Both admitted charges of going on to the playing area at a football match.

Sentencing Martin, chairman of the bench Ann Wade said he had lost his good name for “something so foolish”.

He was handed a football banning order, preventing him for attending any matches for three years and ordered to pay an £80 fine and £40 in court costs.

She adjourned Read’s case for sentencing until April 26, as he plans to appeal against a ban.