Why referee threatened to take players off pitch during game between Portsmouth promotion rivals Charlton and Ipswich

The reason? Well, because of a whistle being blown from the stands.

The match official had to stop play twice in the first half to deal with the issue – warning that the game couldn’t continue unless the perpetrator was found.

And Addicks boss Joe Garner believes it likely impacted the score, with the Tractor Boys’ Tyreece John-Jules ‘probably affected’ when he was put through on goal, only for the fake whistle from the crowd to stop him in his tracks.

In the end, a total of eight goals were scored in the thriller – four of which came in stoppage-time as the hosts came from two goals down to snatch a dramatic 4-4 draw.

However, the whistle incident remained a hot topic after Smith brought the game to an end after 10 minutes of injury time.

‘The first one went in their favour because we stopped – they got a cross and got a corner,’ Garner told londonnewsonline.co.uk.

‘But the second one probably went in our favour because he was through on goal. I’ve never known that before.

‘On both occasions I thought it was the referee. We all stopped for the first one.

‘It was John-Jules who went through and it probably affected him, in all honesty.

‘I don’t know where it was coming from and I’m glad it got sorted.

‘Hopefully we never get that again.’

Ipswich boss Kieran McKenna added: “No-one wants to see that. I’m sure Charlton aren’t happy with it as a football club either.

‘Tyreece was running straight through on goal, that was the key one, one-v-one with the goalkeeper, the whistle blows – he hesitates and stops because he thinks it is a free-kick.’

The draw sees Ipswich remain second in the League One table – a point behind leaders Plymouth, who host Exeter on Monday night.

Charlton, meanwhile, drop to ninth, where they remain four points adrift of fifth-placed Pompey, who drew 1-1 with Shrewsbury.