Stratford Game To Be Replayed

We can confirm that the club have lost an FA appeal against the Southern League’s decision to order a replay of our abandoned game at Stratford Town on Saturday 23rd August.

We accept the decision of the Football Association, with the game now set to be replayed under cup tie terms financially.

We led 2-1 in stoppage time at the time of the abandonment due to the unfortunate injury to our midfielder Harry Titchmarsh. There were four minutes of additional time still to be played.

The decision to order a full replay of the game was taken by the League Board at a meeting on Thursday 4th September, although both clubs were not informed of the outcome of the meeting until Tuesday 23rd September.

Our decision to appeal was made in an attempt to prevent our players, officials and volunteers from having to take additional time off work for a replayed midweek game.

We were also keen to highlight the inconsistency of these decisions.  In similar circumstances last season at St Ives Town, the referee allowed time to understand the expected ETA of the ambulance and sought the guidance of the league via telephone before making a decision.  That was not the case this time around.

There are also other examples this season of games involving step 3 clubs being deemed a result following late abandonments and we urge the footballing authorities to consider a consistent approach to abandoned fixtures so that clubs, match officials and spectators have a clearer understanding of the outcome.

We would again like to express our thanks to Stratford Town FC for their support and assistance in difficult circumstances on the day.

We will announce the date of the replayed fixture once a date has been agreed.