Cheltenham Division Three side Tewkesbury Athletic look set to be denied promotion for the second season running as the Gloucestershire FA announce the null and voiding of the league season.
Tewkesbury were top of Cheltenham’s third tier with 27 points having lost just two games all season and finally looked likely to take the step up into division two after being denied last season.
The FA’s decision frustrated Tewkesbury manager, Tom Neath but he understood why the season needed to be ended.
He said: “It is frustrating but I’d say it was the right decision, there were too many permutations coming into play to finish it any other way.
“Of course, there are certain clubs in the league that don’t have anything to play for so they weren’t too fussed about getting the league back up and running.
“Overall though it was a choice that had to be made even if it didn’t benefit us.”
Despite accepting that it was the correct choice to void the season, Neath still remains irritated at the prospect of a third successive season in division three but a plea to the league secretary may give the club a reprieve in their promotion push.
He said: “For sure there would be some frustration if we have to stay in the same league playing the same teams next season.
“We’re playing at a level which, I don’t want to say is too easy, but for us to progress we could do with a test week in, week out.
“We’ve got good players at our club and what comes with that is teams in the leagues above looking at our best players so we are going to ask the league secretary if we can be given promotion in a sort of re-organisation of the leagues.”
Tewkesbury’s fate for next season will be determined at the league’s AGM meeting in the summer, until then Neath plans to build his sides reputation with a strong showing in the revamped Junior Charity Cup competition.
“It is not going to hurt our case [for promotion] if we do well in this tournament but we have been top of the table both for this season and the season before when it got cut short. Hopefully, they’ll see that we are a good side and we want to progress.”
