BEACON Hill’s junior football club have been awarded a £5,000 to improve their pitch – and the money is already paying dividends.

The money came from a pitch preparation fund grant from the Premier League, The FA and the government’s Football Foundation.

Chairman Alex Gowing said: “With no football being played since March we decided we needed to act and make use of the rest period to repair our badly-worn pitches.

“It’s a substantial investment but one which was need despite the loss of funds this season from our annual tournament, that was cancelled.

“After the wet winter and dry spring, the pitches were in dire need of seeding, fertiliser and repair.”

Beacon Hill, who play in the North East Hampshire Youth League and Surrey County Girls’ League, can use the grant towards paying for the cost of works such as verti-draining, chain harrowing, rolling, over-seeding, fertilising, weed-killing, and routine preparatory work such as grass cutting and the setting out and line-marking of their pitches.