Banbury United boss Ady Fuller has expressed his frustration after the club were thrown out of the Oxfordshire Senior Cup for fielding an ineligible player, Wes Emery, in their quarter-final clash with Oxford City.

Under Oxfordshire FA rules a player can not appear in a County cup tie within seven days of signing.

Emery signed on February 3 and was due to play in the original tie on February 7.

And although that was frozen off, he played in the re-arranged game, which Banbury won 1-0 on February 14, thereby breaking the rule.

It means that City now go into the semi-finals.

Last season, City were booted out of the competition for breaking the same rule by playing Neil Dunn in their quarter-final tie against Carterton when he was ineligible.

“It’s a shame because we have worked hard to get as far as we have,” said Fuller.

“And I have been telling the players how good it is to play in the final at the Kassam Stadium.

“We got through to the League Cup semi-finals on Tuesday, but this makes it a bit sour.

“It’s a farcical situation and the rules need to be clarified because the same thing happened to Oxford City last season.”

Banbury secretary Barry Worsley said he felt the club had followed the correct procedure.

“I thought we had abided by the rules,” added Worsley.

“In their handbook it says the ties have to be played by February 17 and I thought signing a player on Feb 3 would mean he would be allowed to play.

“It was my decision and I did it based on the rules.

“But we are not allowed to appeal and will have to take it on the chin.”

OFA county secretary Ian Mason said: “Every season we constantly review rules based on incidents as they occur to see if we can learn from them.”

Meanwhile, Fuller says his players can take out their frustration at home to Chippenham in tomorrow’s Premier Division game.

But he warned: “It will be tough because they are going well and are trying to get into the play-offs.”

Ryan Howell, Josh Blake, Liam Robinson, and Simeon Williams return, but Martin Hutchcox and Nick Kingston miss out.

Oxford City manager Mike Ford says skipper Wayne Blossom could get his first start since December 31 when they host Arlesey after impressing against Stourbridge.

Although City lost 2-1, Ford said the Blossom and fellow substitutes Aaron Woodley and Darren Pond had helped invigorate the team.

“Before the game I thought about making a few changes to freshen up the side, but felt it was a unfair on those who played at Supermarine.

“It was a heavy pitch on Saturday and I thought against Stourbridge we lacked a bit of spark and energy.

“The three subs may all start on Saturday.

“Wayne hasn’t been in the team, but he has been unbelievably patient. His performance said to me ‘I want to be in the team Saturday’.”

Oxford City: Mooney, Clarke, Learoyd, Ballard, Malone, Willmott, Benjamin, Lyon, Basham, Woodley, Barcelos, Pond, Bell, Blossom. Banbury Utd (v Chippenham, home): from Kemp, Coleman, Kinch, Dolman, Chilton, Fraser, Emery, Cole, Johnson, Edmond, Polk, Angus, Thackeray, Howell, Blake, Richardson, Williams.