ABANDONMENTS

Tuesday November 2nd 2010 saw three Football League games abandoned on the same day. A League 2 match between Cheltenham and Southend Utd was called off after 66 minutes when there was a floodlight failure. Then in League One there were two games terminated with a combined time of 9 minutes played. Heavy rain created flooding so that the Hartlepool v Notts County league match ended after 3 minutes and another league game, Rochdale v Oldham lasted twice as long....only.

Manchester United are said to have "God on their side" especially when Fergie was in charge. But as way back as 1909 United were at Burnley in an FA Cup Quarter-final and losing 0-1 with 18 minutes left. Snow fell and the game was abandoned. Up steps lady luck as United returned 4 days later to win the tie 3-2.

And one for those Sleaford Town (founded in 1968 and known as Town or The Greens) supporters out there...yes, I know who you are! On September 14th 2013 an FA Cup First Qualifying tie from the United Counties League teams Sleaford Town and Huntingdon Town at Eslasforde Park (anagram??) ended in a mass brawl which resulted from a Rory Delap type throw in by a Huntingdon player being interrupted (to be polite) by an official from Sleaford Town (no names, no pack drill-crest below)), with racist overtones. Then an ambulance was called for and the match abandonment. The Sleaford "press officer" had know idea what happened and even managed to conjure up mentioning a lady from the home crowd who was "inconvenienced" by the melee. Following an FA investigation into the incident, both teams were expelled from the cup competition giving next opponents, AFC Sudbury, a BYE through to the Third Qualifying Round. Both clubs were fined £150. 

In the next Round, Sudbury then lost to Needham Market 2-1, who went on to a lucrative tie v Cambridge United, which the League club won 0-1. United  went on to beat Bury 2-1 and met Sheffield United losing 0-2, but a money earner no doubt.

Sleaford and The Hunters had to meet each other twice more in the U.C. League Premier Division!

BUT who has the nicest badge? "The Hunters", below, had its origins in the 1800s but the modern day club as such was put together in 1980 as "Montagu FC", then "Sun Football Club" before transfering to the proper Non-League Pyramid (West Anglian League)-then the Cambridgeshire League 1996 rising to the UCL in 2003.