TURTON FC chairman Peter Gray has hit out at the West Lancashire League after the club’s reserve team had their season abruptly cut short.

The Tigers’ reserve side have been forced into their summer break with four games still to be played but an announcement broke at the weekend that the Division Three season has ended.

Some clubs in the league’s fourth tier each have eight matches to go but, as of Saturday evening, the season has been brought to a shuddering halt.

And the Thomason Fold club’s chairman is appalled by the closure of the campaign.

“I don’t think it’s fair at all,” he said. “There’s just no consideration for the people at the clubs involved.

“At the start of every season there are a set number of games and you set your targets accordingly. Everybody works hard to make sure they can fulfil their fixtures and it’s not always easy with the amount of travelling to be done.

“There has been no consultation with clubs, some of whom plan their events around these games.

“Our end-of-season presentation was planned for after a reserve-team game and Matt Taylor, who runs the reserves, is devastated.

“He set a target of 100 goals and now they won’t have the chance to try to get there, it matters to the lads and it’s so disrespectful to them and the other teams in the division, it’s a real kick in the teeth.”

Gray says the club’s weekend, which had seen the reserves beat Milnthorpe Corinthians 4-1 and the first team mark manager Neil Hart’s final game in charge with a 4-0 win at Hesketh Bank, was then ruined.

Rumours of the season closure began to circulate on social media before a statement was released.

“There’s a high drop-off rate of lads and it’s no wonder when things like this happen,” he added. “They must just wonder what the point is. It makes it hard for clubs like ours to keep them motivated.

“Teams have points deducted for not fulfilling their fixtures but what’s the point if the league are just going to take the easy way out instead of completing the season?

“From any angle it’s fundamentally unfair, a lot of lads make arrangements with their jobs so they can play.

“Something the West Lancs League never fails to do is disappoint us when our lads should just be out enjoying their grassroots sport. There are an increasing number of reasons to not enjoy it.

“It’s such a shame the weekend ended like that, it’s also been badly communicated, with an email that was clearly an after-thought.

“It’s been chaos and not helped by the league refusing permission to have games played on 4G pitches when that would have made a big difference in getting the fixtures played.

“Having to then cancel the season is very disappointing and unsatisfactory, when I’m sure they could have made the extra effort to make it work.”

However, West Lancashire League fixtures secretary Mark Hughes disputes permission has ever been denied for games to be played on artificial surfaces, pointing to the example of Longridge Town and told The Bolton News: “It has never been the case where the league would refuse permission for 4G pitches to be used.

“In fact, their use is encouraged and Longridge, who have had a really bad time with the weather in what has been a particularly harsh season, had about 70 per cent of their reserve team fixtures played on one.

“The Evo-Stik League and Hallmark Security League have all had their problems and the Hallmark Security [North West Counties]League were granted an extension by the FA to extend their season by a week.

“At our level we don’t have to do that, we did extend the season to the 12th and then to the 19th to get fixtures fulfilled. We just could not get the games played, physically it wasn’t possible.”

While he did admit there was an error in making the announcement Hughes is adamant that club representatives were made aware ending the campaign early – in terms of the number of games played, at least – was a distinct possibility.

“We had committee and secretaries’ meetings and the league secretary, John Brown, did mention at the time it could be the case where we would have to cut it short,” added Hughes.

“There was a difference of opinion and we haven’t taken this decision lightly. It is an FA directive that, providing 75 per cent of the games have been played, it is acceptable to end the season at an earlier stage.

“Clubs have had some major issues, such as Eagley and CMB, some pitches simply aren’t conducive to playing these games through harsh weather and player safety is paramount.

“As a referee myself it is the number one concern.”

Tempest United took a point from their home game against Premier Division champions Garstang, drawing 1-1 with a 50th-minute goal from Peter Lancaster.

In Division One action, last week's Hospital Cup winners Eagley won 3-1 at GSK Ulverston Rangers, with Jordan Hibbert, Stephen Bancroft and Jon Stevenson getting the goals for Simon Whaley's side.

Ben McSorley struck the only goal of the game with two minutes remaining to give CMB three points at home to Hawcoat Park. The result in their final match of the season means they finish third in the table.

Ladybridge concluded their season in Division Two on Friday night, a 2-2 draw at home to Millom giving them a third-place finish.