A father has called for a football fan who launched an unprovoked attack on his disabled son for wearing a Crystal Palace shirt to come forward.

The drink-addled Brighton supporter launched an abusive tirade at Dan White, 22, who has Down’s syndrome, and then shoved him at the top of a flight of stairs.

Mr White, who is unsteady on his feet according to his father, just managed to cling onto a railing to save himself from tumbling down the flight and sustaining a nasty injury.

The incident happened at Haywards Heath station as lifelong Palace fan Mr White and his dad returned home after the club’s 2-1 victory over Stoke, at about 6.30pm last Saturday.

Father Bob White, 60, told the Standard: “Dan’s quite a slow walker and he’s not very steady on his feet.

“He was near the top of the stairs – quite a steep set of stairs – when this young person dressed with Brighton gear started being abusive.

“Dan was wearing a Palace shirt and that was like red mist to him. He started hurling all sorts of offensive comments at Dan.

“Then he grabs Dan by the shirt and then pushes him forcefully. Dan was holding onto the railing otherwise he would have tumbled down the stairs and had a horrible accident.

“This was totally out of the blue. Dan is used to all the hustle and bustle at football matches but he couldn’t work out what was going on.

“He wasn’t injured but he was shaken up from it.”

Mr White, who was a coach at Crystal Palace for 10 years, said the thug was shouting abuse about Crystal Palace and appeared to be extremely drunk and angry.

The incident happened after Brighton had failed to earn automatic promotion to the Premier League after drawing with Middlesbrough on Saturday afternoon.

However, he said it is the first time in 15 or 16 years of going to football matches with his son that they have ever had any problems.

He also praised the reaction of Brighton supporters, who inundated him with support after he posted a furious tweet about the incident.

Today he issued a call for the culprit to come forward and hand himself into police.

“It would be great he came forward and put his hands up,” he said.

“He’s done something which is really unacceptable against a vulnerable man.

“It would be great if the guy stepped forward rather than to have to hunt him down, which is what the police are going to have to do.”

British Transport Police are investigating.