Lampard calls for action

England midfielder Frank Lampard has called for action to prevent any repetition of the attack he faced from a Tottenham fan in the FA Cup.

Chelsea had just won the quarter-final replay at 2-1 at White Hart Lane on Monday and Lampard was celebrating in front of the Chelsea supporters when a fan ran on to the pitch and took a swing at him.

"It did shock me," Lampard said as he prepared for England's Euro 2008 qualifier against Israel on Saturday. "Fortunately I saw it coming and was prepared for it and luckily ducked out the way.

"It wasn't as bad as it could have been as an incident. But I hope that doesn't happen to me or anyone else again. It was strange. It was awkward, someone running at you like that ... Fans have come on the pitch before but not with that kind of aggressive nature.

"Emotions run high and I don't want to stand here and criticise too much. Of course, the measures need to be taken to make sure it doesn't happen again."

A Football Association spokesman had earlier described the scenes as "totally unacceptable" and said the FA would be contacting Spurs "as a matter of priority."

Lampard is now looking ahead to the game at Ramat Gan on Saturday, where England need to make up lost ground in Group E. Steve McClaren's men have dropped five points and slipped to third in the group after drawing with Macedonia and losing to leaders Croatia.

Difficult though it will be in Israel, compared with the game four days later against Andorra, Lampard believes England can have no excuses and need to make their ability and experience count.

"I hope we'll learn the lesson from Croatia because we didn't play as well as we should have done and we lost," Lampard said.

"We're full of players who have played in these atmospheres before - Champions League, England games - we've got the experience. So there's no excuses."

England have seven points, one behind Russia and three adrift of Croatia. Macedonia - who have played a game more - and Israel, are behind McClaren's men only on goal difference.

FA to contact Spurs over Fan attack

FA calls incident involving pitch invader 'totally unacceptable'

The Football Association has demanded an explanation from Tottenham Hotspur after two fans ran on to the pitch at White Hart Lane at the end of last night's quarter-final replay against Chelsea - and one of them attempted to punch Frank Lampard.

The FA described the incident as "totally unacceptable" and have asked Spurs to detail the security measures that were in place.

"These scenes were totally unacceptable and we will be contacting Spurs as a matter of priority," said a spokesman. "We want to establish what safety and security provisions were in place for the game and to confirm what action was taken against the fans who ran on to the pitch. We understand that both individuals were arrested and we would expect them to be given football banning orders."

The invader trying to punch Chelsea's Lampard

Lampard managed to dodge the punch before a slew of stewards tamed the fan, but the midfielder spoke of his unease at how close the intruder had been able to get to him.

"I saw the guy coming and wanted to keep my eye on him because if I turn my back, I thought I might get one on me," said Lampard. "I just ducked and the stewards got to him. The way he ran at me I think he'd had a few drinks. I don't think he should have been on the pitch in the first place, but you can understand there's a lot of emotion in a match like this."

The invader was wrestled down!