Members of an amateur football club foiled an attack on a petrol station in Rotterdam at the weekend.

Clyde Vaanhol (48) was confronted with the scene when he popped down to the petrol station to buy some post-match cigarettes, the AD reports.

The would-be robber jumped over the counter to rob the till, hurting an attendant in the process, but got stuck between the sliding doors as he tried to escape.

The man asked Vaanhol to help him get away, but instead the player fetched his team-mates, who then prevented the man from fleeing until the police arrived.

‘We applaud these boys,’ a police spokesman said. ‘I hope they made the difference on the field the way they did here.’

‘It gave us a bit of a fright,’ said Vaanhol. ‘And I still don’t have my cigarettes because the police have closed the petrol station.’