Queensbury Celtic awarded grant from Football Foundation for pitch improvement work

The junior football club has more than 20 teams and more than 250 boys and girls who play for them.

Football secretary Robin Naylor said: “We were really elated, especially at this time with no junior footballbeing played, it’s quite depressing, so to have such positive news is a real fillip, really exciting.

“And just humbling to have such support from the FA and the Football Foundation.”

When asked what the money will be used for, Mr Naylor said: “It will go towards pitch improvements. It’s a new grant that the Football Foundation have brought in as part of a massive investment in grass-roots pitches.

“We’ll be using it for adding sand to the pitches, weed-killing, fertilising, re-seeding and decompacting the ground, all of which are aimed at improving the quality of the grass, which is the best way to reduce waterlogging.

“We’ve had a bit of a history of waterlogging on various bits of our pitches. Last season, like lots of junior football clubs, we hardly played any matches at all due to waterlogging issues.

“It’s a six-year programme, so the expectation from the FA is that the ground should have improved quite incredibly by then.”