Buses carrying Derry City football club fans and players back to the city were attacked by stone throwers early today.

The buses were on the outskirts of Derry shortly after midnight when they were attacked.

Windows in two private coaches carrying fans and a hired Ulsterbus understood to have been carrying the team were shattered, said police.

No one was reported to have been injured in the attacks, which took place between midnight and 12.20.

The vehicles had just passed Drumahoe village and reached the Altnagelvin roundabout when they were targeted on the way back from Belfast where Derry City had played out a 1-1 draw against Linfield.

The match at Windsor Park passed off peacefully, as did the departure of the team and fans from the Belfast ground.

Last year, when Linfield travelled to Derry to play a friendly against Derry City, windows in several buses were shattered by stone-throwers as they left the Brandywell ground.

Billy Scampton, Derry City chief steward, who was on one of the buses attacked early today, said the stoning had not detracted from a "fantastic" occasion in Belfast. "I think it's just sad that it happened in our own city seeing as we had such a welcome at Windsor," he said.

SDLP Leader Mark Durkan said the attackers were a "small, stupid, unrepresentative element".