Thugs among Coventry City fans almost ruined the Sky Blues day out in the cup on Saturday as ugly scenes broke out in the stands.

The 2-0 victory, which earned Coventry an away trip to Manchester City in the fourth round, was marred by a group of yobs who stampeded towards Swindon fans.

Police had to let fans spill out on the pitch after a group of Sky Blues supporters made their way to the bottom corner of the stand near Swindon fans to hurl abuse at them.

Eyewitnesses say the fans in the home stand were largely families and had done nothing to provoke the abuse.

Small children had to be lifted to safety at the end of the first half as less than a hundred yobs ran to the corner area to get involved.

The frightened youngsters risked being crushed by the people trying to get near the Swindon fans. They were knocked about but were guided to safety by more responsible fans.

PC Chris Williams of the football unit in Swindon said no arrests were made in connection with the incident.

He said:

"It was over quite quickly and wasn't too serious. There as an exchange between fans but no arrests were made in relation to this.

"Arrests were made at the game, but they were among Swindon fans and related to previous incidents

PC Williams added that "very few" officers were on duty at the game.

On the pitch Coventry City had an easy win after a Craig Bellamy goal put them in front after four minutes as he capitalised on a mistake by Sol Davis.