TWO buses packed with Sunderland fans, including women and children, were attacked with bricks and bottles by hooligan Liverpool supporters as they tried to get home from Anfield, it has been claimed.

A bus window was smashed, a brawl poured out onto the street and a stolen mobile phone was used to taunt its fuming owner, one Black Cats follower said.

Social media and internet forums raged with allegations from North-East football fans after their troubled return home from Sunderland’s 3-0 defeat to Liverpool on Wednesday night.

A Merseyside Police spokesman said the force had not received any reports or complaints about a coach being damaged in the Anfield area.

However, he added: “We would encourage anyone with specific information about where and when this incident allegedly took place to contact us so that we can investigate.”

A Sunderland AFC spokesman said the club would not comment until it knew the facts. Liverpool FC did not respond to The Northern Echo’s request for comment today.

A bus hired by the Seventy3 fanzine and the South Shields branch of the SAFC Supporters’ Club was allegedly attacked by a gang of about 20 youths about half-a-mile from Anfield at about 10.15pm.

As the coach pulled up at some traffic lights, the gang, describing themselves as the LFC Urchins, threw bottles and hammered on an emergency exit.

The outer pane of a window was smashed and some supporters got off the bus, leading to a scuffle.

The bus driver emerged as the heroic peacemaker, managing to end the confrontation by convincing the SAFC fans to return to their seats. No-one was injured.

It is also claimed a bus carrying members of the Jarrow supporters’ club branch was attacked by youths throwing bricks.

Mal Robinson, Seventy3’s editor-in-chief who was on the first bus, said: “There was a lot of tension and a few people were panicking. It was chaos.

“It was a hark back to the bad old days of hooliganism, which we all thought had been stamped out. This type of thing shouldn’t be in society, never mind football.”