Ross Fleming (24), address given as 139 Brand Street, Ibrox, had pleaded guilty at an earlier hearing to assaulting a man in the Grapes Bar in Montague Street on Christmas Day 2006 by knocking him to the ground and stamping on his body.

Fiscal depute Nadine Dormer said Fleming's victim had gone to the pub at around 11pm on Christmas Eve to play pool with the accused, and said CCTV footage of the incident showed the pair finishing their game and turning from the table before Fleming attacked his victim "for no apparent reason", causing him to fall to the ground and lose consciousness.

The victim, Ms Dormer said, at first refused the offer of an ambulance when he regained consciousness but was later persuaded to go to hospital for treatment to superficial cuts to his face and bruising to the side of his jaw.

Jim Hannay, defending, said Fleming's attack was the result of a loss of temper, having felt he was being "wound up" by his eventual victim as the evening progressed.

Sentencing, Sheriff Herald told Fleming: "This was a nasty assault in which you readily accept you lost your temper.

"You are exceedingly fortunate that you are not immediately going to prison today."