Vandals broke into Brentford Football Club for a late-night match causing hundreds of pounds of damage.
The club today appealed for help to catch the culprits, who trampled weed killer, spread on the edge of the pitch, into the Brook Road end goal box.
It is not believed the vandals knew there was weed killer on the sides of the pitch but stadium manager Tony Ashley said the consequences had been devastating.
He said: "I don't think it was mindless vandalism but we have a game tomorrow and the pitch looks dreadful.
"We are a professional football club and people have to learn they can't break in and just have a game of football. We are scouring CCTV footage to see if we recognise anybody.
"I don't think it was malicious but we ask anyone who knows who did it to point them out to us."
Police were not called after the incident a fortnight ago.
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