Town face fine after Cup pull-out

Technogroup Welshpool have followed their excellent start to the New Year with a fine after pulling out of the Central Wales Cup this Saturday.

 

The Lilywhites chalked up their first win of the season against Rhayader on Monday but will be without a fixture after withdrawing from their scheduled cup encounter with Tregaron Turfs.

 

The club has issued the following statement citing fixture congestion, finance and the risk of injuries as their reason for pulling out. The club expects a fine of up to 100 pounds.

 

“Regrettably, Technogroup Welshpool have withdrawn from the Central Wales Cup. This is due primarily to trying to avoid further fixture congestion as the cup takes precedent over league matches. Also, we want to avoid the danger of picking up injuries in cup games that will hamper our bid for survival and league safety is our absolute priority as a club.

 

The decision to pull out was not taken lightly and we apologise to the Central Wales FA for the hassle it will cause them as well as to Tregaron Turfs who were no doubt looking forward to taking on an ex-Premier League side. While they will be delighted to be in the next round, I’m sure they’d prefer to be there having caused an upset and we regret denying them the opportunity to achieve that.

 

Obviously, the club will be fined for resigning from the competition, but the figure is far smaller than what we would have had to have paid in wages and travelling expenses if the game had gone ahead. Costs to the club would increase as we progressed through the competition. So, from a financial point of view it makes sense as well.

 

Sadly, this leaves us without a game this weekend at the worst possible time. Having taken a deserved three points from Rhayader on Saturday the whole club is on a high and we could have done with another match to keep up the momentum. We’re looking to arrange a practise game with someone to keep us sharp ahead of the visit of Flint on the 15th.

 

Saturday was the best day of the season so far, it really couldn’t have gone better. We had a crowd in excess of 200 there and we took a deserved three points. There is a real excitement around the club now and the belief that we can take on and beat anyone on the day.”