AN appeal has been launched to find drivers who damaged a football and cricket pitch in the Ribble Valley.

Officials from Waddington FC have put forward a £100 reward to anyone who can help identify the vandals who drove onto the Twitter Lane pitch on Tuesday and Wednesday nights.

The damage comes after the club raised £32,000 to solve drainage problems and players were looking forward to begin using the ground in 2019. The incident has shocked the community.

Parish Cllr Liz Haworth, said: “We are very disappointed because the football club has waited a long time to get this work done.

“We think it is youths who don’t understand the consequences, and the time and effort that has been put in.

“The young people in cars just don’t care about it.

“The football team has gone to a lot of trouble, and the village and parish council are so sad to see the area damaged.”

A spokesman for the club, said: “The pitch has not been in a good condition and our football community has put a lot of time into trying to sort it, along with help from the parish council.

“A lot of our games were called off and for the past 10 months we have had different authorities come to assess drainage.

“Lots of people have helped with the seeding and the top soil and then this happens.

“They drove over the cricket pitch and the area in front of the pavilion and nearly got stuck. Then the next night - we don’t know if it was the same people or not - they drove in big circles over the pitch.

“We believe there was a blue car and then a red one.

“The entire village is outraged and the team is incandescent with rage as it impacts on us and we were looking forward to playing in the the New Year.

“We did not want to rush and risk damaging it further.”

The ground is used by two football teams with first and reserve teams in the East Lancashire League and Youths (16-year-olds to adult). Cricket teams of all ages and the community use the pitch for community events.