The League Two clash between Colchester United and Walsall was brought to an unexpected halt when a drone appeared above the JobServe Community Stadium on Saturday.
Referee Carl Brook immediately instructed players from both sides to leave the pitch in the 81st minute, with the score level at 1-1.
The unmanned aircraft was observed hovering directly over the ground before officials intervened to suspend proceedings.
Players swiftly departed the field following Brook's decision.
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The stadium announcements confirmed the drone as the cause of the stoppage during the fourth-tier fixture.
Colchester posted on X: "Play paused due to a drone flying above the pitch."
Walsall responded on the same platform: "Play has been paused with both sides off the pitch as a drone has emerged and is flying above the stadium. Not something you see every day is it?!"
A Sky Sports reporter covering the match provided viewers with a live update during Soccer Saturday.
Saturday's League Two encounter between Colchester United and Walsall was brought to an unexpected halt when a drone appeared
|X/SKYFOOTBALL
He explained: "There's about eight minutes to go here, but we don't have any players on the pitch. The referee has taken them off because we had a drone flying just above the playing surface here at the stadium. So the players, quite quickly, left the pitch.
"An announcement has gone out to say that the drone is the reason that the match has been stopped for the time being."
The reporter added: "We were watching it hovering above the stadium and then it did drift out of sight to the far end, and we saw it going down in the sky, clearly landing."
Following a four-minute interruption, the match resumed and ended in a draw.
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Referee Carl Brook immediately instructed players from both sides to leave the pitch in the 81st minute, with the score level at 1-1
|X/SKYFOOTBALL
Walsall centre-back Harrison Burke had given the visitors the lead shortly after the hour mark, but his side's advantage lasted only minutes.
Colchester winger Harry Anderson struck back to level the scores, ensuring neither team could claim victory in the disrupted contest.
The draw left Walsall in a frustrating position, as three points would have lifted them to eighth place, missing out on the play-off spots only on goal difference.
Colchester remain in 14th position, sitting nine points behind the teams occupying play-off berths.
A drone has stopped play between Colchester & Walsall ❓❌ pic.twitter.com/rmbGvy4eH8
— Sky Sports Football (@SkyFootball) March 28, 2026
Both clubs currently sit in mid-table in League Two, with Colchester 14th and Walsall 11th.
Drone incursions have become an increasingly familiar problem at English football grounds in recent years.
The west London derby between Brentford and Fulham was similarly interrupted during the second half of their meeting towards the end of last season.
Southampton and Aston Villa experienced comparable disruption during a Premier League fixture at the start of 2023.
The Steel City rivals, Rotherham United and Sheffield Wednesday, also had their October 2020 encounter affected by drone interference.
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