Nancy advance past rampaging Dutch

Nancy's Sebastien Puygrenier (R) vies with Feyenoord's Pierre Van Hooydonk (L) during the UEFA cup football match Nancy vs. Feyenoord Rotterdam, at Marcel Picot Stadium in Tomblaine. Nancy won 3-0.

French side Nancy held on to win 3-0 at home against Feyenoord in their UEFA Cup Group E tie despite the match being temporarily halted because of rampaging Dutch fans.

The match was stopped by Norwegian referee Espen Berntsen after 79 minutes after a section of the Feyenoord supporters, who had already ransacked parts of the eastern city in the afternoon, rained down seats on stadium stewards.

A 20-minute stoppage was followed by a restart, after which Nancy secured top spot in group E to qualify for the last 32 of the competition.

The trouble first erupted when the Dutch fans tried to get to their French counterparts by smashing glass panes separating the rivals in the Marcel Picot stadium.

Stadium stewards attempted in vain to stem the violence, and the French riot police soon arrived in a bid to calm things down.

After the referee had brought an early end to the match the stadium speaker finally requested all the French fans to leave the stadium.

The Dutch fans were not allowed to leave.

Some reports from the city said marauding Feyenoord supporters had forced terrified members of the public to be locked into shops as owners closed their doors to avoid the fans.

French security forces clash with Feyenoord Rottedam's supporters at Marcel Picot Stadium in Tomblaine, during the UEFA cup football match Nancy vs. Feyenoord Rotterdam. Nancy won 3-0.

And the trouble continued at the stadium, where the visitors almost took an early lead through Angelos Charisteas, whose shot in the second minute shaved the upright of Nancy keeper Olivier Sorin.

After surviving that scare, Nancy took a two-goal lead into the half-time interval.

Pascal Berenguer saw his free-kick effort in the 21st minute rebound, however defender Sebastien Puygrenier was quick to pick up the rebound and send it crashing into the roof of Henk Timmer's net.

From then on, the match degenerated for the Dutch visitors both on and off the pitch as seats and parts of the stadium were torn up and thrown down towards the pitch.

On the pitch Feyenoord began to enjoy a brief period of domination, however they were soon relieved of any optimism when defender Andre Bahia deflected a Puygrenier corner into his own net four minutes before the interval.

Any Dutch hopes of a turnaround disappeared on the hour mark when Royston Drenthe was sent off for a second yellow card after some blatant shirt-pulling on forward Issiar Dia.

Minutes later Nancy put the match virtually beyond doubt when Moncef Zerka stepped up to beat Timmer from the penalty spot after he had been fouled by Karim Saidi.

Sorin spurned a late chance of a consolation goal for the visitors when he denied Dutch striker Pierre van Hooijdonk.

After the violence-enforced restart van Hooijdonk was given a chance to make amends when the referee pointed to the spot following a foul on the Dutchman.

Sorin however denied the giant Dutchman with a superb save to his right, a feat that only the stadium stewards could applaud for the French side, who played out the rest of the match to secure a convincing, if dramatic, victory.