Logic and common sense went out the window, says Poppies boss Cox after a ridiculous night in the FA Trophy

Paul Cox felt “logic and common sense went out the window” after Kettering Town’s Buildbase FA Trophy hopes were left in tatters after a 3-0 defeat at Leamington last night (Tuesday).

The Poppies’ ‘home’ tie was switched to Leamington’s Community Stadium and it proved to be a crazy evening with the game eventually finishing at 11.22pm - nearly four hours after it kicked off.

On the pitch, it was a disaster for Cox’s team in their first game for two weeks as they went 1-0 down to Danny Waldron’s goal inside the first minute.

A major lack of discipline then saw captain Michael McGrath shown two quick yellow cards after he was involved in an ugly confrontation with referee Adrian Quelch.

And the Poppies paid the price as in-form Leamington made it 3-0 after just half-an-hour after further goals from Jack Edwards and Jack Lane, who got the final touch to Dan Meredith’s corner.

But the game was plunged into chaos at half-time when the floodlights failed and, after a near two-hour wait for Western Power to turn up to fix the issue, the second half finally got under way just after 10.30pm.

There were no further goals but the Poppies allowed their frustrations to get the better of them with Connor Kennedy and Connor Johnson both being sent-off for two bookable offences as they eventually finished the game with just eight men.

The whole evening seemed to leave people from all sides perplexed and Cox was left to reflect on what he described as the “most bizarre game of football” he’d experienced in his career.

“In terms of our performance levels, it just wasn’t good enough at all,” the Poppies boss said.

“We looked rusty, we were second to every first and second ball and the goals we conceded were very unlike us.

“They all came from balls being put into our box and we were very sloppy with the first and second balls.

“It was not a good first 30 minutes from us and we gave ourselves a mountain to climb.

“As far as Macca’s (McGrath) sending-off is concerned, I think there were a few things building up and I think people will get to hear about that.

“I went to have a chat with the referee because a number of my players were saying that he had made certain comments to Macca.

“I know someone has said that Macca hit the referee, that didn’t happen and we’ve seen the video since.

“But that was just a total lack of discipline from Macca and we will deal with that internally.

“From then onwards, the night became bizarre and I have never experienced a night of football like this in my entire career as a player or a manager.

“I have never dealt with people who haven’t looked at the logic, especially in this time with Covid. I have never experienced anything like it.

“I spoke to the referee about 10 minutes after we should have come back out for the second half.

“The referee said he was going to give it until 9.18pm and if the lights weren’t on then he was going to call the game off, to which everyone said ‘not a problem’.

“It got to 9.18pm and our players were starting to get ready to go home but we kept getting told that it needs another 10 minutes and then another 10 minutes and another and another.

“I think we have hung around for the best part of two hours and half of our players were dressed when the referee came in and said the lights would be going on ‘soon’.

“So we gave it another 10 minutes and another 10 minutes but it got to the point where the referee had to seek advice from the Football Association (FA) and they insisted the game had to be played on the night.

“In this day and age, that was forgetting about human beings and safety issues.

“I have never come across people who have said some of the things they said on this night.

“In the end, the referee asked how long we needed to warm up and I just said we’d been standing still for an hour and a half and that we would need a proper warm-up.

“He ignored that and told us we were kicking off at 10.30pm and as people could see, we were still warming up when he wanted to kick-off the second half.

“I have never been involved in such a bizarre game of football in my life and it’s left a bitter taste in my mouth.

“It’s not to say we didn’t play poorly in the first 30 minutes because we did and we deserved to be 3-0 down.

“I know there were phone calls going into the FA and complaints going in about officials so I think we will need to look at what happened and why it happened before I say too much more.

“But the bigger picture is that there were phone calls made to the FA and they basically forgot that human beings were here.

“It was pitch black at times, people were standing around for two hours and it went against every health and safety protocol that is in place. People were standing in corridors, there was no two metres, no masks.

“It was like a rudderless ship. It needed someone to take control and to make a decision early on.

“I am disappointed with a number of things. But logic and common sense has really gone out of the window for the sake of playing a football match to an end.

“We could have come back today (Wednesday) and we would have played that second half with 10 men but, instead, we put people’s health and safety at risk.”