A former professional footballer has been jailed for four years for trying to rape a young woman he met in a nightclub.

Paul Reynolds, who played for Scottish league clubs Clyde and Airdrie United, had to be dragged off his 20-year-old victim by two bouncers.

He later said his sex attack "could have been much worse" if the stewards had not stepped in.

Reynolds, 19, was convicted of attempted rape after a trial at the High Court in Glasgow last month.

Judge Sean Murphy QC yesterday told him a substantial sentence had to be imposed for such a "grave offence".

Reynolds, of Lochwood Lane, Moodiesburn, near Glasgow, looked on the verge of tears as he was led downstairs to the cells.

The court heard how Reynolds spent most of the night with the young woman in Glasgow's Play nightclub on May 4 last year, but he claimed not to know her name.

They left after last orders and she believed they were going to share a taxi home. But when they reached Midland Street in the city centre, Reynolds pounced and forcibly tried to have sex with her.

Her desperate screams were heard by bouncers at a nearby pub, who dragged Reynolds away and held him until police arrived.

He claimed during the trial the incident had been "blown out of all proportion" and the woman wanted to have sex with him. He alleged she was a "willing partner".

But Reynolds, who latterly worked in a call centre, told social workers in a pre- sentencing report the incident could have been worse had he not been stopped.