Fareham Town will appeal against the Jewson Wessex League's decision to expunge their 4-2 victory at Andover from the records.

The Cams Alders club fielded an ineligible player that day (September 14) and also in a Hampshire League reserve game against Romsey Town.

But Fareham say they did so completely unwittingly - and they appear to have the weight of the Hampshire Football Association on their side.

According to the HFA disciplinary department, Town did not receive official notification of Adam Tanfield's general suspension because they (the HFA) were unaware that he was a registered Fareham player.

Tanfield was hit with a general suspension by the county when his old club Romsey Town reported him for unpaid fines from last season.

He has since paid up and had that punishment lifted, but he was fined £10 and banned for a further 14 days for playing twice for Fareham while under suspension. An HFA disciplinary department spokeman confirmed this week: "The player was found guilty and fined, but we didn't charge Fareham because we knew they were unaware of him being under general suspension."

Fareham chairman Bob Ralls admitted: "It's a complicated issue, but we'll be appealing against the JWL's decision.

"The lad in question didn't get his letter about his general suspension because he had moved house and it was posted to the wrong address.

"As far as the club was concerned, we received no official documentation from the HFA informing us he was suspended. The Wessex League have also fined us £100, but it amounts to a lot more than that if we have to go back and replay the Andover game.

"We've got to travel up there, pay the players and, presumably, Andover will charge us for the floodlights and other costs. In reality we're looking at around £500-£600."

It's been a troubled time recently for Fareham. They have already been thrown out of the JWL Cup for fielding an ineligible player and their manager, Jon Gittens, has been instructed to restrict his comments to the media to footballing matters following a public fall-out with striker Peter Wood.

Wood felt he had been victimised after being exiled to the reserves and chairman Ralls confirmed: "I've told Jon not to speak to the press any more about political matters. We had a meeting of our football committee the other night and I think we've resolved our problems. As for Peter Wood, I would expect him to stay with Fareham and fight for his place."