Thugs caught up in mass disruption at an Oxford United football match have been banned from games for three years.

Mark Hardingham, 31, Ben Wall, 26, and Chris Williams, 29, admitted public order offences during the United v Reading match at the Kassam Stadium on September 24.

Oxford magistrates heard yesterday (February 26) that Hardingham, of Calcot Close, Wood Farm, Oxford, was arrested after his face appeared on the front of the Oxford Mail on Thursday, February 5.

Briony Darbyshire, prosecuting Hardingham, said CCTV cameras had filmed him hurling a bottle at police and spitting at them.

Carolyn Hitchcock, prosecuting Williams, of Sparrow Way, Oxford, said he had been arrested after he become angry. Wall, of Cowley Road, Oxford, was involved with some other Oxford supporters in a confrontation with a group of Reading fans.

Defence solicitors said Williams had been upset by a police dog and Wall had been assaulted by a Reading fan.

Wall was fined £350 and ordered to pay £70 costs. Williams was fined £400 and ordered to pay £104 costs. Both were banned from matches for three years and given restrictions about where they could go when away matches were held. The two were also told to give police their passports before England international games.

Hardingham was fined £300 and given a three-year ban without conditions.