West Lothian football fans in mass brawl as 'weapons wielded' before crunch match
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Shocking footage has emerged of football fans involved in a violent brawl ahead of a match on Monday night.
The melee erupted on Station Road, Dingwall, before the Ross County and Livingston play-off final, reports The Daily Record.
In videos shared on social media, hooded thugs are seen battering rival fans with large poles, as fists fly among the mob. One youngster in dark clothing is then seen sucker punching another boy from behind.
The group then appear to challenge each other in a stand-off.
Last night's game ended 4-2 to the Championship side after coming from two goals down to return to the Premiership after one season down - winning 5-3 on aggregate.
Police Scotland has been approached for comment.
It comes after unsavoury scenes in the first-leg between the two sides as County manager Don Cowie claimed a Livingston fan spat at his Assistant Manager Carl Tremarco after his side equalised in the last minute to make it 1-1.
Speaking after the game, Cowie said: "One of the Livingston fans overstepped the mark by spitting in one of our members of staff's face.
"Livingston were straight on the case. They understand what happened and there's CCTV here so they're pretty clear on the person that's done it. I'm sure they'll take the action required."
Livingston have since confirmed the fan has been issued with a lifetime ban. A statement from Chief Executive Dave Black said: "We'll also be issuing a lifetime ban to the individual and will speak with the relevant authorities required to ask for that ban to be country-wide too.'
Ross County chief executive Steven Ferguson fears there is an unwanted fan culture creeping back into Scottish football.
Ferguson acknowledged: 'I think, like you said, that's a wider problem. My concern and my duty here is always to our team and our staff.
'The fact that one of our members of staff was spat in the face is disappointing. But like you said, there seems to be a bit of culture keeping back into the game.'
Ferguson admitted what Assistant Manager Carl Tremarco had to endure at Set Fare Arena is totally unacceptable.
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'The line was crossed when that happened,' Ferguson added. 'Obviously, there's been a reaction at the dugout and it was pretty clear for everybody that Livingston supporters spat in the face of one of our staff.
'You've got two teams that have got a lot at stake on fighting it out on the pitch.
'I get the emotion bit, but we as a football club cannot accept somebody spitting in the face of one of our staff.
'For me, that doesn't belong in football and doesn't belong anywhere, so, we're disappointed in that.
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'But what I will say is, Livingston were excellent and very quick to react.'
The County staff have all rallied around Tremarco. Ferguson said: 'He's cleaned himself up and he's obviously disappointed, but he'll be absolutely fine.
'Carl certainly wasn't expecting that. There were words exchanged which we all saw.
'Again, I'll state the emotions are high. Their team has conceded a penalty kick in the last seconds of the game, so I totally understand that.
'We can understand the emotion, but I think that's definitely crossed the line.
'I believe the person's been identified and it's out with my hands now. The people that need to know about it do know about it.
'Nobody wants to see that. For that to happen at the end is just unacceptable.'
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