By ADAM LAZZARI CHATTERIS Town A and Coldham United could be facing disciplinary action after their BIS Division 5C match was abandoned after just 22 minutes on Saturday. Referee Steve Sparrow, from March, ended the fixture for disciplinary reasons and sw

By ADAM LAZZARI

CHATTERIS Town A and Coldham United could be facing disciplinary action after their BIS Division 5C match was abandoned after just 22 minutes on Saturday.

Referee Steve Sparrow, from March, ended the fixture for disciplinary reasons and swiftly left Chatteris's West Street ground.

The Cambridgeshire Football Association's disciplinary committee is awaiting the referee's report and decision is expected in the next fortnight, but the county's referees' development officer Colin Hills expects that both clubs will "almost certainly" be disciplined.

He said: "I expect that both teams will be charged with misconduct and could be fined up to �200. When the match report is studied there could e further charges brought against individuals.

"There has been a significant improvement in teams' conduct since the start of the Respect Campaign, so I am extremely disappointed with both teams that this has happened."

Chatteris Town A assistant manager Ant Hollis, 43, said: "I've been involved in football for more than 30 years and I have never seen anything like this.

"It wasn't even a dirty game and no cards were handed out.

"One of our lads was a bit late with a tackle and their player reacted by shoving him in the chest, but play just went on and the ref just ignored it all. I shouted 'why don't you ref the game!'

"We had the same referee the previous week and there were no major problems.

"I could understand if players were getting in his face.

"Both teams wanted to continue the match and we had another qualified ref on the sidelines. We phoned the Cambs FA but they wouldn't allow it."

Mr Hills said: "I have spoken to Steven Sparrow. He is a new referee and he accepts that he could have handled the game differently but referees have a difficult job and they shouldn't have to put up with abuse.

"We have offered him advice and he will go on to refereeing ladies' football for a while."

Phil Mitcham, Cambridgeshire FA's competitions' secretary, said: "We have had problems like this before but we treat each case individually so I am unable to say at this stage what the possible outcome may be.