THIEVES have dismantled and stolen a Hampshire football club's floodlights.

Raiders stole the 30ft lights by climbing up a set of mobile goalposts that had been turned on its side.

It is the third time in a week that Fareham Town Football Club has been targeted.

Days earlier intruders had tried to break into the clubhouse through a roof. In a separate incident tools and electrical gardening equipment were taken from the groundsman's shed.

The crime spree has left the club with a bill for more than £2,000 and affected preparations for the biggest match of their season.

Fareham Town will take on Farnborough Town in the Hampshire Senior Cup final at St Mary's Stadium in Southampton on April 28.

The repeated attacks have left the Sydenhams Wessex League team's training plans in disarray and the cash-strapped club veering towards the red.

General manager Brian World said: "They carefully unscrewed the floodlights, neatly clipped the electricity supply and took them away.

"We've got the cup final and everyone here is on a high, but this is really bringing us down when really we should be focussing on the game.

"It took a lot of hard work to get there and it really is a great achievement to get this far and these mindless people could ruin it for us.

"In the end, if they keep this up it's going to put us out of business because we are only a small club and we don't have buckets of money.

"We have got security cameras but they can't look at every nook and cranny all the time and we can't expect the police to keep a 24-hour guard on the place."

Fareham Town currently lies seventh in the league and made it to the prestigious cup final after beating Eastleigh Town FC last month.