Andover Town: Game abandoned after Paulsgrove reduced to six players a 'farce', says boss

A non-league game which was abandoned after a side trailing 8-0 were reduced to six players has been labelled "a complete farce".

Andover Town were 8-0 up when their Hampshire Premier League Division One match with Paulsgrove on Saturday had to be called off early in the second half.

Andover boss Robbie Skeates said four Paulsgrove players did not come out after half-time - when the score was 7-0 - and another went off injured after the eighth goal was scored.

The laws of football say a match may not continue if either team has fewer than seven players.

The Hampshire Premier Football League told BBC Sport it is investigating the matter while Paulsgrove, in social media posts, appeared to blame the abandonment on injuries.

'Four must have got injured in the changing room'

Speaking to Andover Town's website, , external Skeates said: "I've been involved in football a long time and I've genuinely never seen anything like what happened today from an opposition side.

"All 11 of their players walked off perfectly fine at half-time with us 7-0 up.

"They eventually came back out with seven, so apparently four must have managed to get injured in the changing room.

"We scored pretty much straight away to make it 8-0 and from there it became a complete farce."

BBC Sport has asked the league for Paulsgrove FC's contact details but that request was declined.

However, several posts on X appearing to come from Paulsgrove's official account claimed the players were all genuinely injured.

One reply to a post from Skeates read: "Sadly can't make injured player [sic] continue".

Skeates said Andover Town would submit a report to the league.

A spokesperson for the Hampshire Premier Football League said: "As is standard for any abandoned game, an investigation is under way and until that process has been completed, we cannot make any comment."

Andover Town are mid-table in the 16-team league, which is in the 12th tier of the English football pyramid.

Paulsgrove are bottom, having lost all 10 games this season, including three completed games where they were beaten by eight goals or more.