YORK City have pledged to "ban for life" any fans cautioned or convicted of invading the pitch and smashing advertising hoardings during last week's Yorkshire derby at Halifax Town.

Secretary Nick Bassett said the club had paid £2,000 to Halifax after five hoardings at The Shay were shattered by City supporters who reacted badly to Craig Farrell's late booking in the 1-1 draw.

He said the club was footing the bill to "placate" the West Yorkshire club following the disturbance, which also saw some City fans invade the pitch.

Bassett said the club had photographs of those supporters, which had been passed on to police. And he promised the Minstermen would take a tough stance with anyone who was subsequently identified and dealt with by officers.

"We are taking an extremely serious view of the incident," Bassett said. "We have some photographs of people who invaded the pitch and those have been passed on to the police.

"They are actively searching for those people and will deal with them as they see fit. Anyone who receives a police caution or conviction for any football-related offences will be banned for life. Invading the pitch is an arrestable offence. If they are cautioned or convicted they will be banned for life.

"Let me make this absolutely crystal clear. We don't want people to behave in this manner and whatever the rights or wrongs of the referee's decision (on booking Farrell) it doesn't justify damaging someone else's property.

Bassett said the club could ill afford to be "wasting" its precious resources footing the bill for damage caused by supporters while at away grounds.

"This is money we haven't got," Bassett added. "We can't afford to be paying out the bills, especially given the evidence of today (Donaldson's transfer agreement). It's just money wasted."