DAMAGE caused by Storm Arwen towards the end of last year has caused a Wee County football team to shift their focus to repair the stadium.

Sauchie Juniors’ Beechwood Stadium was badly damaged during the storm which took place at the end of November.

The stadium’s floodlights, two of which were only recently installed, were damaged to the point they are no longer usable.

Around 15 trees fell around the side of the pitch too, causing damage to the grass on the pitch as well as breaking various pieces of advertising around the outskirts of the surface.

The club are currently in the process of upgrading their hospitality offering at Beechwood however temporarily floodlights will have to be installed in order for home games to continue throughout the darker nights.

The team's manager Fraser Duncan told the Advertiser: “One of the main floodlights has been blown off the top of the enclosure.

“There’s probably 15 trees fell and we’ve lost some signage boards and there’s bits of cladding came off the side of the enclosure too.

“The pitch was in quite a bad condition too so we’ve had to go over the pitch.

“It’s a bit of a nightmare.”

Thankfully most of Sauchie’s matches in the East of Scotland Premier Division have been away from home since the storm, allowing work to continue on improving the pitch.

Fraser continued: “We’ve fixed most of the stuff but the floodlights, it’s not something that’s a quick fix, it’s going to cost a lot of money so we’re trying to do a temporary repair.

“If the temporary repair is good enough to get us through the next couple of months then we’re looking at reassessing and reevaluating the situation in the summer.

“However, the temporary repair is still going to cost us thousands of pounds so it’s quite difficult for a club like us.

“Obviously we don’t just have that sort of money lying around.”

Due to the storm being a natural event, the insurance won’t cover the damages and so the club will pay for it themselves.

They will need the temporary lights in place with rescheduled games from December taking place on weeknights throughout the months of February.

However, Fraser explained how even at the moment the lights are needed for Saturday afternoon matches as it gets dark during the second half.

He added: “It makes it difficult for us but we’ll find a way, we’ll manage it. We always manage it.”