A DRUNKEN employee of Preston North End football club ended up being arrested at the match against Burnley at Turf Moor last Friday.

Burnley Magistrates heard how Neil Mault was seen by a police officer displaying the "usual signs of drunkenness" and, when arrested, he replied; "All right, I'm drunk."

Mault, 34, who said he also worked for Preston Borough Council, said in court he "wasn't drunk as in drunk."

The father of two, of Larches Avenue, Preston, was conditionally discharged for 12 months, with £65 costs, after admitting being drunk in a designated sports ground, on April 6.

The justices told him he had not been threatening or aggressive and they had given him credit for pleading guilty immediately.

Mault said he had had two pints at Preston before getting on the coach and a pint at Turf Moor before going to his seat. He went on: "I wasn't drunk as in absolutely legless."