A CASH boost has helped a local football club out of a hole.

Players from Northern League team Murton FC were sidelined last year when a gaping hole opened up on the west wing of their pitch.

The eight-foot-wide crater measured about 70ft deep, and was half-filled with water.

Bosses at the club feared the cost of the damage was enough to throw the future of the cash-strapped oufit into doubt.

But players are celebrating after the Football Association's Football Foundation agreed to help - with an £80,000 grant to fix the hole.

Work to repair the pitch started last week and is expected to be completed in about five weeks - just in time for players to return to their home ground in September.

The club shot to fame last year through its run of bad luck with vandalism, poor form on the pitch and the appearance of the big hole.