Ball row club back in game

Paul Vose has confiscated balls which have gone in the garden

A soccer team whose balls were confiscated by a neighbour after they landed in his garden, are celebrating a gift of 18 new balls.

Paul Vose, 56, has locked 18 of Appledore Football Club's £50 balls in his shed until the end of the season.

Even an offer by the club to buy them back for £5 each fell on deaf ears.

Now sports firm Puma has stepped in and given the team 18 new balls.

Appledore FC chairman Larry Jones said: "It's great news because we were facing a real cash flow problem at the club.

"We only had two balls left."

Netting trap

The amateur club, which plays in the Firewatch Devon League, has given Mr Vose until the end of the week to return the balls, or face legal action.

Mr Vose, whose garden is behind one goal at the end of Appledore's pitch, says he loves football and does not mind the balls flying onto his property.

But it is the damage the players have caused to his garden trying to retrieve them that bothers him.

In the meantime the club has put up new higher netting at a cost of £600 that will try and trap stray balls.