Hearts Football Club have criticised the "appalling" behaviour of a group of young "so-called" supporters after trouble flared during a home match.

The club have apologised to their own supporters and those of Ross County Football Club after Saturday's 2-0 victory at Tynecastle Stadium.

Hearts officials said they "will not rest" until the problem had been addressed, and warned some fans they could face a ban.

Following the game, a Ross County supporters group posted on Twitter: "Very disappointed that our bus and driver were attacked and our drum stolen from our bus."

The group said it hoped Hearts would investigate the matter, and later tweeted its thanks for "kind words and support from the decent Hearts supporters".

In response, Hearts said: "It is with considerable disappointment that the club, once again, is put in the position of having to apologise both to our own supporters and, in this case, to Ross County Football Club and their travelling support for the appalling behaviour of a small group of 15-25 young so-called 'Hearts supporters'.

"Let us make it clear... the club does not need these individuals and, most certainly, does not want them if this is going to be the way they continue to behave.

"(Hearts owner) Ann Budge has contacted the Ross County chairman to personally apologise and to ask that this apology is passed on to the supporters and to the coach driver, whose trip to Edinburgh was so badly tainted by the behaviour of this group.

"Apologies are however not sufficient. The club is doing everything in its power to put an end to this type of behaviour.

"We have been working closely with Police Scotland and other agencies to gather sufficient evidence against the individuals involved to enable the appropriate action to be taken.

"It gives us no pleasure to say that a number of fans will be banned as a consequence of their recurring bad behaviour."

The club said home games would now have a greater stewarding presence with police monitoring certain areas directly and "more strenuous" ticketing control measures.

They added: "We realise that these measures may then cause some inconvenience to other Hearts fans however we know that the majority of supporters at Tynecastle are as keen as we are to address these problems.

"For instance we find it incredible that even following the terrifying ordeal a young Hearts fan had at Celtic Park due to pyrotechnics in "our" section, an incident which led to him receiving medical treatment, certain individuals still chose to repeat this utterly irresponsible action again on Saturday.

"Our inbox at Tynecastle is filled with emails from Hearts supporters asking us to take action and we want to assure them, that we will not rest until we have satisfactorily addressed this problem."

A spokesman for Police Scotland said: "Although we have not received any formal complaints in relation to the conduct of supporters following Saturday's match, we continue to work closely with Hearts FC to address recent concerns regarding the behaviour of a minority of fans.

"Anyone who wishes to report an incident can do so by contacting police on 101 or speak to an officer."