WISBECH: Fenmen could be kocked out of Cambs Invitation Cup - after floodlight blunder!

EXCLUSIVE by: ADAM LAZZARI

WISBECH Town Football Club endured an embarrassing night this week when their first evening home match at Outwell could not be played because the correct floodlight bulbs failed to arrive on time.

The Fenmen were due to play Cambridge-based CRC in the Cambs Invitation Cup First Round on Tuesday night at their new ground.

CRC and the Cambridgeshire Football Association were informed of the decision to call the match off late on Tuesday afternoon.

Phil Mitcham, competitions secretary from the Cambs FA, said: "Wisbech Town gave us assurances that the game would be played and it was called off at the last minute.

"The committee will meet to decide what to do next, but there is a possibility that Wisbech may be automatically knocked out of the competition and the club may also face a fine."

Wisbech Town manager Steve Taylor said: "Hopefully we'll get a replay but it's out of our hands.

"We made arrangements with the Ridgeons League to ensure that we won't play any home evening league matches until November so there's no chance of us losing any league points."

The problem came about after the wrong lamps were delivered last week.

Wisbech Town chairman Paul Brenchley discovered the error when he tried to fit one of the bulbs when the floodlights were put up at the ground last Friday.

Mr Brenchley then made several attempts to contact the supplier but didn't succeed until Tuesday.

He was assured the bulbs would be delivered by courier, but when they hadn't arrived by 3pm that day, the decision was made to call the game off to prevent the CRC team from travelling unnecessarily.

Purple Properties, who recently bought Fenland Park from Wisbech Town, will not let the club use the floodlights from that ground because of health and safety regulations.