Giantkillers Droylsden have been expelled from the FA Cup for fielding an ineligible player.
Last week, Droylsden thought they had won their second-round tie against League Two side Chesterfield at the fourth time of asking after fog, a controversial goal and floodlight failure had foiled three previous attempts to separate the sides.
But it turned out that defender Sean Newton, who scored both their goals in a 2-1 win, was ineligible after collecting his fifth booking of the season on December 9.
An FA Cup protest sub-committee met on Monday and ordered that Droylsden be removed from the competition and League Two side Chesterfield will now play Ipswich in the third round on Saturday.
The sub-committee also ruled that the FA Cup prize fund payment of £30,000 should be redirected to Chesterfield.
After discovering they faced being expelled, Droylsden’s manager and chairman Dave Pace said he would ”throw myself off the nearest bridge” if they were kicked out of the competition. Pace also confirmed that Droylsden would appeal against the decision.
He told BBC Radio Manchester: ”It is ludicrous as we have beaten Chesterfield fair and square on the field. ”It is not as if we have brought a ringer in at the last minute. Sean Newton is one of our players. It was a genuine mistake by our secretary. Fine us by all means but don’t kick us out.”
The Droylsden versus Chesterfield FA Cup tie has been unusual to say the least. The first match between the two teams was abandoned at half-time for fog with Droylsden leading 1-0.
In the replay the match was tied 1-1 in the 78th minute when Droylsden put the ball into touch deliberately following an injury to a Chesterfield player Carl Lamb. But, after Lamb got back on his feet, the ball was thrown to Jack Lester who, instead of just passing back to the Droylsden goalkeeper, as is the convention in such circumstances, lobbed Craig Mawson for a goal.
Tempers boiled over and both benches emptying. Then the bizarre moment happened when Broylsden kicked off Chesterfield, seemingly embarrassed by Lester’s goal, allowed Droylsden’s Steve Halford to run through unopposed from the kick-off to make it 2-2, which is how the match ended.
That game ended up in a 2-2 tie and the third attempt at finding a winner ended when the replay at Droylsden’s ground was abandoned with Chesterfield leading 2-0 and under 20 minutes left to play, when the floodlights went out.
It seems on fitting that this strange FA Cup tie is decided in a conference room and not on the pitch.
Deco is a creative midfield that Inter lack. Maybe he is no longer the “UEFA Most Valuable Player” when he won the champ leag title in 2004, or the same man who won “Barcelona’s player of the season” in 2006, or when he won the “UEFA Best Midfielder Award” in 2007. But his form may have drop and his class is obviously there. Mourinho has recognised it and he will recover Deco’s form.
Ibra’s heart is not with Inter anymore. But there is no many world class strikers available out there. The only obvious choice is David Villa. Tevez is not good enough replacement, although he can be a very good complement.
We clearly needed a real striker in front of Ibrahimovic, and we got Milito and Arnautinovic, although it is a big question if the 20-year old can adjust to the Serie A. But he has talent, so it is a good move for the future.
We need central defender like Carvalho.
And we also need more attacking options in midfield, especially if we will play 4-4-2 again. Besides Stankovic we have no creative midfielders at all. Cambiasso, Zanetti, Thiago Motta all lack of that. Muntari surprisingly flashed creativity in some games, but I doubt he can do that consistently, he is still better as a clear central midfielder, playing defense and offense equally.
Deco? I don’t believe he can be that guy in Serie A! Mourinho knows better? He didn’t with Mancini and Quaresma…. We need players like Kaka, Cristiano Ronaldo…. Unfortunately, we are not even in discussion for players of that caliber.
I also was a bit surprised nobody from Italy or Spain tried to get Carlos Tevez… Juventus got Diego, Milan is selling everybody and clearly in trouble, unless Ronaldinho suddenly will be reborn under coaching of a fellow Brazilian Leonardo… We still don’t have anybody.
Mourinho doesn’t need a player like that? Of course, he does. What’s why he wants Deco, but if the Portuguese fails like Quaresma, we again will be with the offenseless midfield, which is what we need to win the Champions League next year. Ibrahimovic alone will not win it for us.
Overall, I am not really excited about our transfers so far… I am surprised how mellow so far we have been. If Inter wants to be the best in the world, we need the best players in the world…. And in the midfield too. And we don’t have them. Who is our the most dangerous midfielder? We don’t have one. Period.
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