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’.