Tranmere Ballboy Had To Be Dragged Away By Stewards After Being Pushed By Exeter's Cheick Diabate

A ballboy from Tranmere Rovers was left furious when Exeter defender Cheick Diabate pushed him with both hands during Monday's clash at Prenton Park.

In the 57th minute of yesterday's League Two fixture, the ball went out of play near the corner flag when the incident occured.

With the away side 1-0 down after a first-half strike from Tranmere's Josh Hawkes, Exeter centre-back Diabate was eager to get things rolling again, but this ballboy had a plan to timewaste.

As you can see in the viral footage below, Tranmere's ballboy throws the ball away when approached by Diabate, who then pushes the youngster in the chest with both hands.

Moments later, the ballboy confronts the former Truro City loanee, shouting a fair few words in his direction.

"I'm sure a Tranmere ball boy has just been ejected from the ground???" tweeted Exeter's official account after the incident took place. "An incident as Cheick went to retrieve the ball from a throw in."

The angry ballboy had to be restrained by stewards, while Diabate received a yellow card for his actions.

It was an incident that brought plenty of reaction on social media.

One fan wrote: "Ball boys should not be wasting players time. They are not part of the home team. They shouldn’t be giving and advantage or disadvantage to either team. Simple as that. It was a little shove. No pain inflicted what so ever."

Another said: "Diabate was lucky to get only yellow," while a third commented: "Stupid behavior by both in my opinion."

Despite their best efforts to get back into the game, second place Exeter struggled in front of goal and in the latter stages of Monday's League Two clash, Elliott Nevitt secured a huge 2-0 win for Tranmere in their play-off push.

Thoughts on the incident involving Cheick Diabate and the Tranmere ballboy?

Let us know in the comments.