Statement by Raptors President, Daz Moss
We are sad to report that last week's hard-fought 4-3 victory over TJ Točná has been over-turned by the FA due to Raptors fielding an ineligible player.
Because we understandably received lots of questions about what happened, we are issuing this explanation so all our fans and supporters understand it was our honest mistake rather than us trying to undermine and disrespect the game and our opponent.
20 minutes before the start of the game one of our subs pulled out and we put another player in. The player is registered to us and eligible to play for us, as he has done many times this season - but we did not register him in the squad for this game.
We did not think this would really be a problem as we were replacing one of our players with another one, but without letting the referee know it is against the rules. We made a mistake and therefore we understand and fully accept the decision of the FA and that they need to uphold the rules in all in all circumstances, otherwise it opens up the door for people to bring in players who are not even registered with their clubs.
We are disappointed that the result of this great match will be wiped from the history books and obviously we now have a tougher task for the season - but it is another lesson learnt...we are now 4 points from the top so need an excellent second half of the season.
We won't make such a mistake again and can only apologise to the players on both sides for the oversight as it was a very entertaining and tight game.