THE future of one of the region's oldest football clubs was in jeopardy last night after part of the pitch sank only hours before a cup clash.

Investigations are now under way to find out how the ten metre wide depression, which is up to a metre deep, suddenly appeared in front of the goal at Tow Law Town yesterday afternoon.

Officials are now frantically finding a way for the County Durham side to play out the rest of the season in the Albany Northern League.

Assistant secretary Steve Moralee said: "This could have a massive impact on us financially but we do not know for sure at this stage.

"We are going to have to consider ground sharing or maybe just playing all our away matches. We will just have to wait and see."

The Lawyers were due to play Harton and Westoe in the Durham County Challenge Cup but the match had to be cancelled.

Mike Amos, chairman of the Albany Northern League, said: "We will do anything we can to help, including letting them ground share, but it is very difficult for a football club if you aren't playing at your own ground because you lose any income you would get from match days, such as money from the club house and food.

"This is why the quicker we get the community gathered round the better.

"We had a similar situation at Murton a couple of years ago and it cost something like £100,000 to put right.

"They got 90 per cent of the funding from the Football Stadium Improvement Fund and this will probably help Tow Law."

Groundsman John Dixon had been at the 102 year-old Ironworks Road ground early to prepare the pitch for last night's clash.

He said: "When I went for lunch I walked the pitch and it was fine. When I got back the goal line did not look very straight and that is when I realised what was happening. It has got gradually worse."

Officials called the Coal Authority fearing that it could be subsidence caused by old mineworkings.

John Delaney, corporate affairs manager for the authority, said that workers went to the ground as soon as they could and fenced off the area until investigations could be carried out.

"If this is coal mining related, then we put the area back to how it was," he said.

"Because it is a football ground and they have fixtures to meet, we had to get people out as quickly as we could to carry out investigation works."

If the subsidence is not due to old mineworkings then the club could be faced with a huge bill to repair the damage