Terry Coles was approaching the ground when he was fatally injured

On Wednesday, the third day of the hearing into the death of 42-year-old Terry Coles, his friend Keith Hill described how a group of them had travelled in a minibus to Millmoor, the home ground of Rotherham United.

Father-of-two Mr Coles died in a collision with a police horse after trouble broke out before the Division Three decider between Rotherham and Swansea City on 6 May 2000.

Previously the court in Doncaster heard in a statement from Detective Constable Brian Crossland that CCTV footage clearly showed Mr Coles and other Swansea fans throwing objects into the stadium.

But asked on Wednesday whether his friend had ever been part of football violence, Mr Hill said: "He would have run the other way... He'd never been involved."

The ill-fated day had begun, the coroner heard, with a group of Swansea fans - part of a club based at the Deer's Leap in Morriston known as the Monkey Jaks - travelling up in a minibus.

Police officers were coming down on horses, there were police officers with batons, there was total confusion Swansea supporter Andrew Rogers

When asked about to a statement made by another group member that Mr Coles had drunk up to 12 cans of lager while in the minibus, Mr Hill said he was sitting in the back of the bus and could not be say.

But he said the group were drinking in Rotherham before the game over which time Terry Coles drunk no more than around seven pints - consisting of cider and beer.

Then as the group approached the football ground, Mr Hill said two police horses moved quickly through the crowd, with other police officers running behind them.

He described the situation as approaching "total mayhem".

The next thing he knew, he told the inquest, was Mr Coles lying face down for a short time before paramedics arrived in an ambulance.

They urged him to go and watch the match and it was not until later that he learned of the extent of Mr Coles injuries.

In fact, Mr Coles, a drayman for Bass Brewers in Swansea, was taken to Rotherham District General Hospital where he died during surgery.

Another of the Swansea group, Andrew Rogers also from Morriston - the driver of the minibus - told the hearing how Mr Coles had been drinking in the vehicle but that he did not know how much.

Police horses were used in crowd control

He described trouble breaking out between opposing groups outside the ground with Swansea fans throwing missiles into the stadium and Rotherham supporters throwing them the other way.

He too recalled police horses moving in quickly.

"Police officers were coming down on horses, there were police officers with batons, there was total confusion," he said.

Later, another Swansea City fan Martin Arthur said he was 10 feet away from Mr Coles when the police horse collided with him.

Mr Arthur described how he was walking with other fans when glasses began to rain down on them, thrown from a nearby beer garden.

Mr Arthur said the police horses then began to move through the crowd moving "faster than a walk".

He saw one of the police horses come into contact with a man.

"The man went down and the horse caught him again with one of its front ankles," he added.

"I would say that the man was bowled forward. "The man remained on the floor.

Mr Arthur added: "What sticks in my mind is him being bowled along the floor." Mr Arthur said he remembers joking to the semi-conscious Mr Coles: "Don't be late on Monday".

The inquest continues.