The North Stand of The Kassam Stadium is to become a no-go area for Oxford United fans after trouble marred the ground's grand opening on Saturday.

The third division club are to take the drastic measure of banning home supporters from the stand "for the foreseeable future" following the disgraceful scenes in the opening league game against Rochdale.

The flashpoint came early in the second half when dozens of young men charged aggressively towards visiting fans at the other end of the stand.

Climbing over seats and chanting provocatively, they were prevented from reaching the Rochdale fans by stewards and police. But it was an ugly scene and a reminder to everyone that there is still a large hooligan element who attach themselves to the club. The scenes that led to Oxford United making the North Stand a no-go area for home fans

There was also crowd trouble at the back of the North Stand at the end of the match when some Oxford fans threw stones at visiting supporters.

United's safety officer Tony Ashley said: "We were very disappointed with the mentality of a certain section in the North Stand. It seemed when it came to half-time, some of them just got bored and decided to behave disgracefuly. Fortunately, the stewards and police dealt with the situation quite well.

"We've got an awful lot of video material, from both incidents, which has been sent to Thames Valley Police.

"I have had a meeting with the chairman and he is quite insistent that we take action. The club will be issuing banning orders against anyone found guilty of hooligan behaviour.

"We will not let home supporters into the North Stand for the next two or three matches, in effect for the foreseeable future, after what happened.

"The chairman hasn't spent £15m building this magnificent new stadium for it to be wrecked in the first week."

Ashley says special netting will be brought in to act as a stronger physical divide between the home and away fans in the North Stand.

United chairman Firoz Kassam said: "This is not something the club will tolerate. We will definitely ban anyone found guilty of causing trouble and we are looking very carefully at the pictures from the cameras.

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