OUR appeal to support Darlington's home game against Rochdale on Saturday has reached £16,700.

Every minute of the crucial Nationwide Third Division fixture has been sponsored by at least one company or organisation.

But each minute can be sponsored more than once - so there is still "time" for more businesses, and individuals, to sign up to the fundraising challenge.

To help see the Quakers through a desperate short-term cash crisis, The Northern Echo is offering companies, organisations and individuals the chance to sponsor each of the 90 minutes of normal play.

Companies and organisations are asked to pay £100 to sponsor a particular minute, and indiduals - or groups of individuals - £50 a minute.

Up to last night, 133 companies and organisations had agreed to sponsor a minute, while 68 individuals or groups of individuals have put their names to the appeal.

Darlington Building Society, the club's primary sponsor, has set up an interest-earning trust fund to channel the money raised through this appeal to the administrators to be used to address the club's immediate day-to-day solvency.

The building society is offering a prize of two tickets to a home game to any sponsor in whose minute a goal is scored on Saturday.

Peter Barron, editor of The Northern Echo, said last night: "To have each minute sponsored just a few days after launching the appeal is a tremendous achievement. It shows how much commitment there is in the community to the survival of the football club.

"We are still inviting companies, organisations and individuals to come forward with sponsorship support ahead of the match. Every pound raised will go towards seeing the club through its immediate financial difficulties."