SCHOOLBOY Grant Merrigan escaped life-threatening injuries when he was impaled on a metal spike after climbing a fence to retrieve his football.

The ten-year-old slipped as he scaled the 7ft jagged fence and fell on to the spikes, one of which speared his hand.

Two men came to his rescue and supported his body weight, while others rang 999 as he clung on in agony.

The youngster fell as he climbed over the security fence at the Millennium Sports Centre, in Washington, Wearside, on Saturday afternoon.

As he recovered in hospital, his relieved mother, Carole, 41, said: "Grant had been playing football with friends.

"He had climbed over the fence of a compound near the sports ground because the ball had gone over.

"As he climbed across the fance he slipped and his hand was impaled on a metal spike."

Firefighters rushed to the scene and they took about 20 minutes to free him using specialist cutting equipment.

He was taken to Sunderland Royal Hospital with a six-inch metal prong still through his hand.

He underwent an operation to remove the spike and surgeons patched up his hand with wires.

Grant, from Concord, Washington, will need further surgery. But doctors said he was lucky the spike missed other parts of his body.

His mother said: "He was so brave through everything. He was in shock but was calm considering what was happening."