A prestigious FA Sunday Cup final at Sheffield United’s Bramall Lane home was temporarily halted after tensions between rival supporters threatened to boil over in the stands.

Sheffield United's Bramall Lane stadium witnessed some unsavoury scenes yesterday as a prestigious FA final was left on the brink of being abandoned following clashes between sections of supporters. United's home ground was selected as the host ground for the FA Sunday Cup final earlier this year.

But the game threatened to descend into chaos just after the hour mark when Luke Naylor, the captain of Hartlepool AFC Supporters, was sent off after an off-the-ball clash with a defender from Liverpool-based Home Bargains.

Naylor responded furiously to the decision, throwing his captain's armband to the turf and responding angrily to taunts from opposition supporters in the Tony Currie stand where the two sets of fans were separated.

The game was then paused as scenes in the stands threatened to turn ugly, with players and officials from both sides appealing for calm before both teams were returned to their dressing rooms. Play eventually resumed around 15 minutes later, after stewards managed to return both sets of supporters to their allotted sections of the stand.

It was a tense flashpoint in a tense FA Sunday Cup final which saw Home Bargains eventually lift the trophy on penalties, after a 95th-minute equaliser had given the north-east side a dramatic lifeline. But Home Bargains, who knocked out Rotherham side Westville in the third round, recovered to win 3-1 on penalties and lift the trophy for the first time.

Victory also avenged defeat in the final two years ago and manager Brian Moogan said: "They put me through the mill today, they really did. I'm over the moon. Utter, utter relief."

Fans of both Sunday League sides were segregated at either end of the Tony Currie stand but trouble began to brew just after the hour mark when Hartlepool, already 1-0 down, had captain Luke Naylor sent off for violent conduct.'

EFL referee Ollie Yates took the teams back to their dressing rooms before the appeals for calm, with warnings that the game could be abandoned. Stewards eventually got the situation under control and the game restarted.

But the drama didn't end there, with substitute Elliot Wilson smashing home a fine finish in the fifth minute of added time in front of the Kop end. But it wasn't to be a fairy tale ending for Hartlepool, as Home Bargains goalkeeper Germano Mendez saved two penalties to help his side win 3-1 in the shootout.