EXCLUSIVE

A racial abuse investigation against Gills boss Andy Hessenthaler has been dropped.

Sussex police have confirmed Crawley Town manager Steve Evans has withdrawn his official complaint against the Gillingham manager after a heated clash on Boxing Day.

Hess faced court action following the complaint, but police have now confirmed 'no further action' will be taken as complainant Evans no longer wanted to pursue the matter.

It comes after a heated exchange between players and management from both sides after Gillingham's victory over the League 2 leaders on Monday.

The tensions started on the sidelines and are thought to have continued in the changing area after the final whistle.

The Gills were unhappy over some of the challenges dished out on their players, particularly to Chris Whelpdale, below, who needed stitches to repair a split testicle after a challenge by David Hunt.

As the Gills players were doing their post-match warm-down exercises, Crawley turned off the floodlights at Broadfield Stadium.

A police officer was eventually sent into the changing rooms as the hostilities continued off the pitch.

A Gillingham spokesman said after the allegations were withdrawn: "We are aware that an unfounded allegation was made by a member of staff at Crawley Town FC about comments between the benches at the game between Gillingham and Crawley on Boxing Day.

"We were prepared to challenge and rigorously defend Gillingham FC and Andy Hessenthaler in particular with regard to these allegations and are disappointed in the extreme that such suggestions were made and put into the public domain."

It said Sussex Police had looked into the matter and had advised the club that they had closed their investigation and would be taking it no further.

The statement said the club were pleased to be able to put the allegation behind them, and were now continuing their preparations against Dagenham on Friday and beyond.

But other allegations are still being investigated after tensions between the two teams spilled into the crowd.

Two Gillingham fans and a Crawley fan were ejected from the ground during the match.

A police spokesman said: "Other incidents involved two men, both in their 40s from Gillingham and a teenager from Crawley. All three were ejected for disorderly behaviour and enquires are still ongoing in regards to these individuals."