Millwall goalkeeper Marschall alleges Taty Castellanos spat at him in fiery London derby

Millwall goalkeeper Filip Marschall alleged that West Ham forward Taty Castellanos spat at him during a heated altercation in the second half of Saturday’s Championship derby at The Den, with Millwall staff formally reporting the incident to the fourth official on the touchline.

The flashpoint occurred while Marschall was holding the ball and being closed down by Taty, who had entered the game as a half-time substitute. After the incident, Marschall appeared to point towards his jersey, gesturing that he had been spat at. The fourth official confirmed that an allegation of spitting had been lodged by Millwall’s coaching staff.

The incident added further drama to an already combustible occasion — the first meeting between the two London clubs in 14 years, following West Ham’s relegation to the Championship, with a large-scale Metropolitan Police operation in place around the ground.

The sequence of events surrounding the flashpoint was itself contentious. Referee Paul Tierney initially appeared to signal a corner after Marschall exceeded the eight seconds permitted to restart play. West Ham quickly took the set piece, with Taty crossing for substitute Pablo to finish into an empty net, but Tierney halted proceedings and instead instructed Marschall to restart play. Taty then closed Marschall down a second time, and it was during this second confrontation that the alleged spitting took place.

Millwall had dominated the first half and led 2-0 when the incident occurred, but the match turned sharply in West Ham’s favour afterwards. Mohamadou Kante pulled one back from 25 yards in the 74th minute, before Konstantinos Mavropanos headed in an equaliser in the 80th minute to make it 2-2.

Kante was subsequently sent off for pulling down Millwall’s Kyrell Lisbie when Lisbie was through on goal as the last man, but the ten-man Hammers held on to claim a point from a pulsating east London derby.