Apology issued after scuffles and ticket issues during Leeds United's game against Hull City at KCOM

The Stadium Management Company has apologised to supporters following Leeds United's Championship clash with Hull City at the KCOM stadium.

The Whites ran out 4-0 winners on Saturday lunchtime in front of a 16,178 strong crowd thanks to goals from Luke Ayling, Pablo Hernandez and a brace from substitute Tyler Roberts.

A number of home supporters, though, were left unhappy after United fans in the home end were allowed to join the near 4,000 visiting supporters in East Yorkshire.

City had released a statement ahead of the game stating that any Leeds fans found in the home section would be ejected from the ground but Whites fans were instead moved into an over-spill area of the away section in the North Stand.

The Hull City Supporters Trust voiced their concerns at the decision after a number of scuffles broke out between both sets of supporters in the corner of the East Stand as supporters were moved by stewards.

A spokesperson for SMC has since apologised in a statement, saying: "A fixture of this nature can pose significant challenges; this was a local derby, an all-ticket match and with Leeds selling out their full allocation, we anticipated some fans would look to purchase tickets in home areas.

"However, it is extremely difficult to identify all of these supporters in advance, with some opposition fans having local postcodes.

"A risk-based decision was taken on the day to relocate, rather than eject, visiting supporters from home areas in the interest of spectator and staff safety.

"This decision was made given the high number of Leeds fans identified in home areas of the stadium.

"We accept the means of relocating these supporters along the East Stand aggravated some home fans and caused distress.

"We wholeheartedly apologise to those fans whose matchday experience was adversely affected.

"Discussions have taken place with the relevant parties and we are looking at tightening our ticketing and stewarding procedures to mitigate the risk of this happening in the future.

"We are considering different options, such as increasing the away allocation and/or removing general admission and selling to existing supporters on our database."