New Mills unable to travel to Isle of Man for league fixture

The Millers were scheduled to head across the water to face Isle of Man FC, with both sides currently sitting in the top four.

However, a league statement released on Monday said a request had been received to postpone the game which had been refused, with the Millers responding by saying they will not travel to the game anyway.

New Mills are yet to comment on their reasons for not playing the game, but are expected to release a statement in due course outlining their stance.

The NWCFL statement read: “The North West Counties League received an initial request from New Mills to postpone the game that did not comply with the FA Standardised Rules or the Covid Postponement Policy adopted from the FA Cup and Vase guidance issued to all our clubs in August. Therefore the request was rejected.

“New Mills have since advised FC Isle of Man and the League that they will not be travelling to the island to fulfil this fixture.

“The fixture will be re-arranged in due course and within 42 days of the postponement date. New Mills will be charged under the FA Standardised Rules for a non fulfilment of fixture.”

Millers joint-boss Dave Birch opted not to discuss the issue until the club had released a statement.

He did, however, discuss last weekend’s 2-2 draw at local rivals Cheadle Hulme which came thanks to Darren McKnight’s stoppage time equaliser, keeping the Millers third in the league standings.

It was the fourth time this season an injury-time goal from McKnight had put at least one point on the board for his team.

Birch said: “We were poor, but dug in to get a point which is the sign of a good team.

"Cheadle played really well which was expected and in the end Daz has dug us out of a hole again.

"I don’t like to use missing players as an excuse but we did have five really key players unable to play which affected us in the end, so a point is a decent outcome all things considered.”