Football-mad children at Drayton County Primary School, near Abingdon, have been left without a pitch to play on after vandals wrecked their goalposts.

Team coach Steve Lester said the damage had been caused by young people swinging on the goalpost crossbars at the Hilliat Fields pitch.

After a visit by health and safety officials, the goalposts were condemned as unsafe and taken down.

Mr Lester wants help to pay for new goalposts so the team, which has recently won the Oxfordshire final of a national six-a-side competition, can play home games again.

He said: "It's annoying and there's no need for it.

"They're a keen bunch of boys. We want to keep them busy and active rather than hanging around the streets.

"We have several games to play between now and the end of January. Until we get some goalposts sorted out we will have to play all our games away, which is a bit embarrassing."