A WORCESTER City FC fan has been banned from attending any football games anywhere in the country for three years after assaulting two stewards and lighting a flare at a game last month.

Luke Stock admitted possessing a pyrotechnic device and two counts of assault at the match on Saturday, December 14 when he appeared at Aldershot Magistrates Court.

He was handed a three-year football banning order. The order means he is banned from attending any football match anywhere in the country until January 2017. The club’s vice chairman Colin Layland welcomed the verdict.

“We are pleased that he has been given a banning order as we were going to ban him anyway,” he said.

“We are trying to make it a really, nice family club and we don’t want these sort of people involved.

“We need to get the message across that this sort of behaviour won’t be tolerated.”

He said the club had banned Stock, of Cannock Fell, from all games for five years, meaning he will be unable to attend any Worcester City FC games for a further two years after his national banning order ends in January 2017.

“From what I understand he and his group had been drinking since about 8.30am and they probably didn’t even know what planet they were on,” he said. “We don’t want these kinds of people at our games.”

About 80 Worcester City fans travelled to last month’s game against Aldershot Town but went home disappointed after their FA Trophy run was ended for another year when they were trounced 4-1 by the Conference Premier team.

At court on Thursday, January 2, Stock was also ordered to pay £100 compensation to each of the stewards as well as two £90 fines, court costs of £85 and a £20 victim surcharge.