by a pitch invasion by the home team.

Goater, playing the match with a broken jaw, broke the hearts of the club's supporters as he struck with a penalty midway in the first half and a header near the end of the game to give Bristol City an important away win.

The English league Second Division club's fans have a reputation of being unkind to visiting supporters and Goater said he experienced racial taunts during the match.

"Obviously I've heard the stories about Millwall being a bad place for black players and having played there I would say it lived up to expectations,'' said Goater, noting that Millwall had a couple of black players in their team on Saturday.

"I take my hat off to those players for playing there, but I'm personally not cut out to be the pioneering type. Having said that, if it wasn't for people like Clyde Best you probably wouldn't have any black guys playing there.'' Best played for West Ham in the late 1960s and '70s, when there were very few black players in the English game.

Goater said he has learned to accept that racism still exists in the English game.

"I've seen it before but as long as it is coming as a shout than it doesn't really bother me,'' he said.

Goater was also just as worried about the broken jaw. He was hit in the jaw during a challenge and his nose started to bleed but the headed goal helped put the injury out of his mind.

Already in financial crisis, Millwall face possible Football Association sanctions after fans tried to attack the referee and invaded the pitch during and after the loss.

They could now face closure of their New Den ground or have points deducted.

The club is already some 10 million ($16.5 million) in debt.

"We will wait to see what is contained in the reports from the police and the match officials, but any pitch invasion is viewed extremely seriously,'' FA spokesman Steve Double said yesterday.

Three fans ran onto the field in the final minute of the match and went after referee David Pugh. They were stopped by Millwall defender Tony Witter.

When the final whistle blew, hundreds of fans invaded the pitch and demanded the Millwall board resign. The demonstrators were eventually moved away by police and stewards, but trouble continued outside the ground and three cars were damaged in the disturbance.

Goater says this was no comparison with the disturbance he experienced in match between Bristol City and Bristol Rovers earlier this season when City fans invaded the pitch.

"I felt the Bristol derby was a bit funny, because I was never in danger, but it was different at Millwall,'' explained the Bermudian. "Their own players were running off the field so I felt I'd better sprint off myself.''