An investigation is under way into how a football match degenerated into a sectarian riot in Derry.

Republicans and loyalists have clashed over how the trouble outside Derry City's Brandywell stadium erupted.

A Sinn Féin councillor in the city said residents living nearby were subjected to an "unprovoked attack" by supporters of the Belfast side Linfield after the game on Tuesday night.

The councillor, Patricia Logue, said local people had to endure a "sectarian rampage" after Linfield lost to Derry City 3-1 in the Irish cross-border Setanta Cup competition.

"They verbally abused the residents and the community activists who were around the area at the time. They threw bottles, bricks and bottles filled with urine and stones over the fence at the residents," she said.

Witnesses said a small number of Linfield fans had smashed windows at private houses near the Derry ground.

The Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) said a number of missiles had been thrown during the match, with one arrest made in relation to the disorder.

The PSNI also confirmed a number of homes had been attacked and that missiles had been thrown at buses as they travelled along the Letterkenny Road, with damage caused to two buses. A segregation wall at Southend Park is believed to have been damaged as fans left the stadium, the PSNI added.

Derry City's director, Tony O'Doherty, said another club director, Martin Mullan, had been forced to flee after trying to intervene with rival supporters.

"You could see Martin literally had to run for his life," he said last night.

"It was a scandalous situation and one I never hope to see again at a football ground. I want to stress that was a number of Linfield fans; it was not all the Linfield fans. Some of the Linfield fans are going home on those buses absolutely disgusted."

The leader of the Progressive Unionist party and Linfield fan Billy Hutchinson said he had been on a bus that had been targeted by people chanting "sectarian slogans".

Hutchinson said: "Whenever we were coming out there were a number of people behind the PSNI riot squads chanting sectarian slogans and they attacked the buses with ballbearings and bricks. This one was hit and there was a pensioner sitting at the window who was very lucky he wasn't hit."

An elaborate security operation took place before the game with Linfield fans not allowed into the stadium until moments before kick-off. Linfield's core support is among Belfast's Protestant working class, particularly in the south of the city and in the loyalist heartland of the Shankill Road. Derry City's Brandywell ground is situated in the predominantly nationalist side of the river Foyle.