Motherwell have banned a fan who threw an object towards Rangers’ James Tavernier during Sunday’s Premiership clash at Fir Park.
As Tavernier took a throw-in in the 37th minute of the game, TV pictures showed a lighter and a pie among items that had been thrown by home fans in the direction of the Rangers skipper.
A club statement said that staff had been studying CCTV, video footage and photographs from the game to identify the culprits.
As a result of the investigation, one fan has been banned from the stadium indefinitely, while another also faces a similar sanction.
Motherwell chairman Jim McMahon said: “We condemn the irresponsible actions of two of our fans, whose moment of recklessness has cast an unfortunate shadow over our whole support.
“It gives us absolutely no pleasure or satisfaction to ban anyone from Fir Park.
“As a fan-owned and fan-run club, we have tried to campaign for the rights of supporters. We have been vocal in our opposition to any suggestion or notion of strict liability.
“However, with that comes a responsibility to act if any of our own step out of line, particularly if we have such clear and obvious evidence.
“I am sure our supporters understand that we are left with no other option but to take a hard line approach with not only these two individuals, but anyone else who steps out of line.”
Tavernier had been targeted by an opposition fan earlier this season at Easter Road.
The Hibs supporter was jailed yesterday for 100 days for running onto the pitch and confronting the Rangers star.
Sunday’s incident in Motherwell is also the latest in a string of missile-throwing instances in Scottish football.
Earlier this season, Celtic’s Scott Sinclair had a bottle of Buckfast thrown at him by Hibs fans at Easter Road, while Rangers fans threw coins at a linesman at Livingston.
At the weekend, smoke bombs were let off at Tynecastle during Hibs’ 2-1 win over Hearts, while a coconut was also retrieved from the field of play.
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