Two regional newspapers, with a combined circulation of almost 150,000, have joined forces with the police to net football hooligans involved in a three-hour night match riot.

Five police officers were hurt and a police dog blinded in the incident in Swansea when 200 Bristol City fans trashed a pub, causing £9,000 of damage in a few seconds.

Detectives have studied 16 hours of video tape and 27 faces of people they want to question have appeared in the South Wales Evening Post and the Bristol Evening Post.

The release of the photos marks a new, crucial phase in the investigation, which has been going on for three weeks.

The pictures come from cameras in and around the Vetch Park ground and show pictures of people seen going into the pub when the trouble started three hours before the game, catching landlords off-guard.

The films were sent to a specialist studio in Cambridge to be enhanced by a firm that carries out work for the National Crime Squad and government agencies.

The police issued a plea for anyone pictured to come forward if they had done nothing wrong – elimination from the inquiry and extra information would be a help to the investigating officers.

No-one was arrested on the night of the match, which was delayed for safety reasons and ended 2-2.

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