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12
Aug
Knaresborough Town to replay FA Cup tie due to refereeing error
Knaresborough Town have announced they will replay their FA Cup loss against Bridlington Town due to a refereeing error.
Knaresborough fell to an extra-time 2-1 defeat away in the East Riding last Tuesday (August 5). The fixture had already gone to a replay after neither side could break the deadlock at Knaresborough's Manse Lane ground on Saturday (August 2).
However, a mistake made by the referee meant Knaresborough were unable to field the correct number of substitutes in extra time.
FA Cup Rule 126 states that each club may include a maximum of seven substitutes on the team sheet and use a maximum of five of them at any time during the match.
It continues that, if a game goes to extra time, an additional substitute may be used, allowing a total of six substitutes overall.
With the match reaching extra time, and Knaresborough having only used four substitutes, they were entitled to bring on two more players.
However, they were denied this by the match officials.
A statement put out by the club yesterday (August 11) said:
The incident involved Knaresborough Town FC being incorrectly advised by the match referee that they could not make a further substitution in or around the 106th minute of the match having used three substitutions in normal time, followed by one substitution in extra time (a fourth in total), which is in contravention of FA Cup rule 126 or the Rules of the Competition.
The statement adds that the sub-committee appointed by the FA to investigate the incident deemed neither club to be at fault for the incident.
However, given the circumstances involved, the sub-committee decided that the action taken was deemed fair to both clubs and in the best interests of the competition.
Knaresborough are currently in the Premier Division of the Northern Counties East League, which is in tier nine of the English football pyramid a league below Bridlington, who are in Division One East of the Northern Premier League – tier eight.
Bridlington Town's chief executive, Gavin Branton, said:
Bridlington Town are obviously disappointed to have to replay this tie. Particularly when it is of no fault on the part of the club and solely the consequence of the decisions made by the match officials.
However – we ‘move on’, prepare fully for the match, and produce the result [the] fans deserve.
Knaresborough will travel to Bridlington to replay the fixture tonight (August 12) at 7.45pm.
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