Referee Gregory Belboda abandoned this battle between the two East End rivals at Wellington Oval in the 64th minute after linesman Gladwyn Lodge was hit in the face by a thrown bottle.

St. George's club officials escorted the culprit out of the ground and will meet tonight to take further action.

According to club sources the culprit is a former St. George's player but is no longer a club member, although he is registered with another First Division club.

Club secretary Mansfield Smith, who is also the field operator, said last night that the club's management committee will meet this evening to investigate the incident and that disciplinary action would be taken against the culprit.

"We'll be calling in some people who witnessed the incident because we want to clear it up right away and send in a report to the BFA,'' said Smith.

"It's a most unfortunate incident to happen. We're normally very cautious against this type of thing and would have been right on top of it as the home team and field operators.'' Because both the president Clevie Foggo and vice president Calvin Smith were off the island, Smith was forced to man the gate. He said he would normally have been in the area where the incident took place.

St. George's share their ground with Hamilton Parish but on this occasion were the home team.

The BFA will also begin looking into the situation once reports from the referee and club are submitted.

"A situation like this in which any official is attacked is deplored by the association,'' BFA administrative assistant Joe Brown. Brown promised that the "incident will be looked into speedily.'' He added: "We're certainly looking at the concerns expressed by the president Charlie Marshall in relation to indiscipline by spectators at grounds.'' The game, between these two relegation-threatened teams ended with St.

George's holding a narrow 2-1 lead, as referee Belboda took both teams to the safety of the dressing rooms after fans spilled onto the pitch.

Scoring for St. George's were Jan Cieters and Marlon Outerbridge with Chris Caisey replying for Parish from the penalty spot.

On a wet and blustery day both teams struggled as they tried to master the conditions. Passed balls skipped all over the field and the winds played havoc with any ball distributed in the air.

St George's took the lead in the 16th minute when a corner fall to Sinclair E.

Smith who miskicked. However, his errant shot skidded off to a waiting Jan Ceiters who fired in from close range.

In the 40th minute, Simons was substituted for Glenn Smith. One minute later saw a through ball to Phillip Burgess who dribbled around St. George's keeper, Troy Hall. But instead of shooting at an open net Burgess turned and carried the ball towards goal and was dragged down inside the six yard box by Philip Bailey.

Chris Caisey took the resulting penalty and fired past the outstretched Hall to tie it up at 1-1.

Six minutes into the second half saw Andre Todd of St. George's and Phillip Burgess receive their marching orders for fighting.

Three minutes later, referee Belboda gave former St. George's winger Sinclair Gibbons the yellow card for a flagrant foul on St. George's Sinclair Smith.

St. George's scored their second goal when Delbert Minors initiated a play from the left flank and directed a pass to Ceiters. Ceiters controlled the pass and sent a beautiful through ball to the feet of a streaking Outerbridge who shot past the stranded keeper.

Hamilton Parish: G.Fox, T.Burgess, J.Nichol, I.Frith, S.Gibbons, W.Burgess, K.Simons, C.Caisey, F.Simons (G.Smith 40min) Q.Outerbridge, P.Burgess.

St.George's: T.Hall, A.Todd, E.Basden, D.Minors, P.Bailey, S.Denbrook, J.Ceiters, D.Smith, M.Outerbridge, W.Richardson, S.Smith.

Referee: Gregory Belboda.