Alcester Town through to Saturday Vase quarter-finals after Birmingham County FA remove Sutton Rangers from competition
ALCESTER Town head coach Ryan Faulkner was glad “common sense prevailed” after a hearing into the abandoned Birmingham County FA Saturday Vase tie against Sutton Rangers went in their favour.
An investigation was launched after the third-round fixture on 7th January was called off after around 20 minutes with the Romans leading 2-0 and Sutton down to eight men (one sent off and two in the sin bin for dissent). This was the second attempt to get the game played after the first meeting was postponed due to a frozen pitch at the Stratford Road Ground.
At the time, Alcester manager Aaron Blackwood had described the events as “a complete farce from start to finish”, while Sutton boss Paul Sullivan said in a written report that the referee had ‘lost all control of the game’ and was ‘incapable of protecting the players’.
Following a hearing last Tuesday, the Birmingham County FA removed Sutton from the competition, granting Alcester a place in the quarter-finals.
Kevin Shoemake, chief executive of the county FA, said: “The case against Sutton Rangers was found proven by an independent disciplinary panel.
“The case was then sent to the county cups executive who made their decision based on the findings of the disciplinary panel and they have removed Sutton Rangers from the competition.”
Reacting to the news, Faulkner, pictured, told the Herald: “100 per cent common sense has prevailed. In all honesty, the way the game was going, I could tell it was going to get abandoned.
“I genuinely felt someone was going to get hurt and I think abandoning the game was the right decision from the referee.
“It’s been an anxious wait for an outcome because teams like Knowle are already into the semi-finals whereas we didn’t know if we’d still be in the third round or the quarter-finals.
“I would have been fuming if we had been told to play the game again because then it makes our season longer and with the small squad we have, we probably would have had to bring more faces in for any midweek games we’d potentially have to play.
“There was some talk among the lads that they’d refuse to play the match if it had to be replayed. At the end of the day, we did nothing wrong.
“Yes, there were some tackles flying in but we weren’t the ones moaning at the referee.
“I do not think there was anything more the referee could have done and I am glad common sense has prevailed.”
Sutton secretary Darren Weston told the Herald the club would not completely rule out an appeal but admitted they’d probably not go down that route due to the costs involved and “a lack of video evidence”.
If there is no appeal, the Romans will now face fellow Midland League Division Two rivals AFC Coventry Rangers in the quarter-finals on a date yet to be confirmed. Before then, the two sides will meet in the league on Saturday.
Rangers have only lost once all season, that being at the hands of the Romans on the opening day of the season at the Stratford Road Ground.
In an impressive display, Alcester ran out 4-1 winners thanks to two goals from Liam Fullerton and one apiece for Luke Dugmore and Connor Perry-Holmes.
Faulkner told the Herald: “Kevin Kingham’s (Coventry Rangers manager) sides are always good teams and Rangers have the potential to challenge this season. However, I feel the fact they have so many games in hand may hinder them.”
Faulkner revealed Jake Wicketts, Ricardo Richards and Anthony Miller are expected to return to the squad for Saturday’s clash at Coventry Tech Sporting Club (3pm kick-off).
