A SMOKE bomb was thrown and a hooligan wielded an extendable baton during a confrontation between two sets of football fans at a station, a court heard yesterday.

Newcastle United supporters tried to ambush Sunderland fans as police were escorting them from a mainline train at Newcastle Central Station to the station’s underground Metro station in early August, last year.

The Sunderland contingent were returning from a pre-season friendly match against Hearts in Edinburgh, and the Newcastle group had been watching their club’s late kick-off at West Bromwich Albion on TV in city centre pubs.

Newcastle Crown Court heard that two trainloads of Sunderland fans had got the Metro home without incident, but there were fears about a third because some Sunderland fans were becoming aggressive and police closed the station doors to prevent Newcastle fans reaching them.

But Christopher Knox, prosecuting, said a group managed to get in through a subway entrance to the Metro station and staged a brief confrontation with their Sunderland rivals.

The court saw CCTV footage of the disturbance, including the smoke bomb going off and the yob wielding the baton.

Mr Knox said: “The reality is that the confrontation that took place was comparatively limited because the police intervened, although it was frightening.’’ One Metro worker said the supporters made a noise “like a roar’’ and she saw rival fans throwing punches at each other.

Mr Knox said in a separate incident on the main concourse there was violence between Sunderland fans and the police, with the fans alleging brutality and at least two being injured. He said 20 are to be tried next year.

He said the incident had not been planned between the two sets of fans, but the Newcastle fans were arrested later after CCTV footage was viewed.

Some were identified by police as risk supporters and some had previous football-related convictions although many of them were of good character.

Barristers, mitigating, for the 15 defendants, aged 18 to 51, said that nearly all were in work, most had played a limited role and had expected only to barrack the Sunderland supporters.

Some had gone along out of bravado and were sorry if people were frightened by the disturbance.

The 15 admitted violent disorder at a previous hearing, having previously denied a conspiracy charge.

After an all-day sitting, Judge Beatrice Bolton adjourned sentence until Friday, October 22, saying she wanted to carefully consider whether the defendants should be jailed.

In court yesterday were: Ian Chisholm, 47, of Westacres Crescent, Benwell, Newcastle; Lewis Comber, 18, of Elsdon Avenue, Seaton Delaval; Darren Fryer, 39, of Wallinfen, Leam Lane, Gateshead; Bryan Heron, 41, of Clayton Street West, Newcastle; Adam Ivison, 22, of Murrayfields, West Allotment, North Tyneside; Joseph Mattison, 51, of Acomb Street, Gateshead; Christopher Mustoe, 22, of John F Kennedy Estate, Washington; Adam Nesbit, 41, of Tribune Place, Gateshead; Noel Renton, 33, of Aydon Walk, West Denton; David Taylor, 21, of Sinclair Gardens, Seaton Delaval; Lee Wales, 23, of Prince Consort Road, Gateshead; Stephen Wales, 43, of Woodford, Gateshead; David Cook, 22, of Cromer Gardens, Gosforth; Scott Mooney, 18, of Valley Road, Blyth; and Daniel Routledge, 18, of Swarland Road, Blyth.

They were all bailed.