TIVIDALE are staring relegation in the face after their ground failed a Football Association grading inspection.

The club, which has enjoyed a brilliant first season in the Northern Premier League Division One South, could now be forced to drop a level if the report's findings are upheld.

Tivi have appealed against the decision and will now head to FA Headquarters at Wembley next Tuesday for a hearing on the matter.

Manager Ian Long said: "I am absolutely devastated by this, especially for the players. They have put in a lot of effort and hard work to get us to where we currently are.

"This club has come a long way, both on and off the pitch, in a very short amount of time. I really thought we'd done everything we could.

"I feel for everyone connected to the club and can only hope that common sense will prevail next week. There will be a lot of people losing sleep until the appeal is heard."

The FA sent two inspectors to the Beeches on Wednesday, April 1 to assess a host of improvement works that had been carried out as part of the club's application for grade D status.

However, Tivi discovered last Friday they had failed - a result that puts them on the brink of demotion.

Long added: "We feel the guidelines we were set were too vague. The big issue was about how we stop the ball from running past the edge of the pitch. Guidelines state the ball shouldn't be able to get between the advertising hoardings and we thought we'd adequately resolved that, but yet we still failed.

"There were also a few other minor issues, some that we weren't even advised about during previous visits.

"It would be such a shame to have to go down after proving how much we deserve to be at this level. We beat the league leaders just last week.

Meanwhile, Tividale continued their fine form with a 2-1 away victory over Carlton Town last Saturday.

Karl Edwards hit a brace to take Tivi's unbeaten league run to nine games.

They are due to face the same opposition at home tonight before taking on Gresley away this Saturday.