A football team made up of bereaved fathers were forced to call off their latest match after callous thieves nicked all their kit in Orpington.

Sands United Kent FC were meant to face-off against opposing Snodland FC but were left reeling after match and training equipment - including balls, bibs, linesmen's flags, first aid box and spare kit - were stolen from a car overnight.

Mike Pollard, the Sands Kent manager said: "On Saturday evening we played a charity match against the Sands Brighton team in Brighton.

"The next morning we were due to play Snodland at their ground, but my deputy's car was broken into outside his home in Orpington and everything stolen."

The heartbroken manager added: "This was an important fixture for us - with this week being Baby Loss Awareness Week - and we had all the families coming along to support the dads play.

"These sort of moments are something we all look forward to and it's pretty sad that this had to be postponed.

"The kit and equipment itself is something that we rely upon on match-days as a league requirement, but we are thankful that the league and other teams around us have kindly made donations to help us replace it.

"The bags were obviously taken without knowledge of the contents as they are no use to anyone but ourselves, so this makes it even more sad that they have probably been thrown away somewhere without care."

But the team, based in Kings Hill, Kent, say they won't let having their kit stolen hold them back.

Mr Pollard added: "The footballing world around us has been so kind in support and I cannot thank them enough.

"We will not let the thieves defeat us and we will be back on the pitch, even more determined than before."