A FOOTBALL fan has been found guilty of wading into a ‘Western-style bar room brawl’ against rival supporters.

Oxford United supporter Jeremy Smith, 37, punched a Cheltenham town fan and hurled two chairs when a fight broke out at the Moon Under Water pub in Cheltenham on February 7 last year.

Smith, of Galley Field, Abingdon, was one of a 40-strong group of men from Oxford who went to the Bath Road pub to watch the Liverpool versus Portsmouth match.

He pleaded not guilty to violent disorder, but a jury convicted him at Cirencester Court after dismissing defence claims he had been “protecting” himself.

Jurors watched CCTV footage of the intense five-minute flare-up.

Prosecutor Julian Kesner said Smith regrouped twice to go back into the “western-style bar room brawl”.

Defending, Tony McGeorge said the pictures were inconclusive and Smith had been merely caught up in the chaos and was shielding himself with a chair.

The jury came to a unanimous verdict.

The three-day case was adjourned for a pre-sentence report.

A total of 17 men were charged, 16 of whom pleaded guilty. A sentencing hearing for all 17 is yet to be scheduled.