Residents of an Oxford estate that was the scene of a battle between football hooligans hold the key to more arrests.

Police last night appealed to the residents of Blackbird Leys to come forward and name the thugs behind Saturday's violence.

The clashes took place after Oxford United had beaten York City 2-0 at the Kassam Stadium. More than 100 fans from both sides were throwing bottles and glasses at each other near the Blackbird pub in Blackbird Leys Road.

Officers believe the fights, which were broken up by police with batons, were planned by known football hooligans - and said it was fortunate no passers-by had been hurt.

Oxford's football intelligence officer Dc Huw James said: "It was sheer luck that no-one in the area - a member of the public - was affected by it. It must have been a truly shocking scene for anyone passing by."

Football liaison officer Dc Steve Norman was one of the first officers on the scene.

He said: "There were certainly a lot of members of the public walking through or driving through. I would like to have an independent member of the public's view of what took place.

"When we arrived on the scene we were confronted by two groups of football supporters. They were all up for a fight. It was only because we had our batons out that we prevented them meeting each other - we had to use force."

Dc Norman said officers on the ground alerted the police helicopter, which flew above the scene recording what was going on below.

After the match, police arrested four York City fans for public disorder offences after a window was smashed at the Priory pub in Grenoble Road.

Two were released on police bail and are due to report back to police later this month, while the other two were issued with fixed penalty notices.

Dc Norman added: "The investigation is on-going and there will be more arrests from both sides."

Trevor Lambert, chairman of supporters' club OxVox, is disappointed with the violence.

He said: "It sounds quite serious - there's no place in football for that kind of behaviour.

"This sort of thing is very much the exception and not the rule. It can obviously damage the name of the fans as a whole or the club."

If you have information, call Dc Steve Norman on 08458 505505 or Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.