A football match was abandoned after a sinkhole opened up in the middle of the pitch.

The near metre wide void, thought to be several metres deep, interrupted the highly-anticipated top-three amateur premier division clash between Stonehaven’s Cowie Thistle and Aberdeen’s Woodside on Saturday afternoon at St Machar Academy playing fields.

Cowie Thistle manager Ross Adie said the sinkhole at the Bedford Road site was a first in his near two decades in football.

He said: “I have played football for 16 years, and been a manager for the last three, and I’ve never seen a match called off because of a sinkhole before. We play every Saturday and so fingers crossed it never happens again.”

The team had played the first 45 minutes before the sinkhole was spotted during half-time.

He added: “We had already played 45 minutes of football when we noticed it – someone could have been seriously injured.

“The substitutes were warming up and taking shots at the goal when one of the players noticed the sinkhole near the goalpost.

“He put his foot on and it gave way a bit more.

“We all stopped to have a look and, as it’s Woodside’s pitch, they tried to fill it in but it was too deep.

“Even though it was a really big match, we had no choice but to abandon the game.

“It was an anti-climax but we’ll just start getting ready to play them again.”

I’ve been at a lot of games, but today was my first ‘abandonment due to sink-hole’. Woodside v @CowieThistleAFC pic.twitter.com/D0QlNmiIsZ — Mark Gordon (@TheMarkGordon) November 3, 2018

Secretary of Woodside Douglas Gibb described the incident as “incredible”.

He said: “Everyone crowded round to have a look and we had to tell players to step back because the edges were sinking in. It was around 30 inches in diameter, and when we tried to fill it in with a spade someone could fit their whole arm and the spade in the sinkhole.

“It is unusual but as a school pitch, you hate to think that a kid could have run right into it.

“The referee said he’d never seen anything like it. We were winning 1-0 so we had wanted to continue, but it wasn’t safe.”

Councillor Ross Grant, who represents the area, said: “I’m surprised to hear of this but the ground was, historically, quite boggy.

“I’m pleased that nobody was hurt and know that investigations are ongoing to ensure the site is safe.”

Aberdeen City Council was contacted for comment.