A TEENAGE boy will be banned for life by Banbury United after the club’s game against Slough was abandoned when a bottle was thrown at the referee.

Last night the club’s manager Paul Davis said the incident happened as referee Lee Sheridan approached his dressing room after halftime of the Evo-Stik Southern Premier Division game at home to Slough Town on Saturday. The visitors were leading 2-1.

Mr Davis said: “The referee went down, and I was able to help him to his dressing room.

“It hadn’t been an ill-tempered ltempered game, although they were a few decisions just before the break that led to the fans shouting abuse at the referee.

“There were about 150 fans of both sides around the tunnel at the time.

“At that time I didn’t think the game would be abandoned but apparently the referee had been sick in his dressing room.”

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Police were called to the Spencer Stadium just after 4pm and a spokeswoman said nobody was injured and there had been no arrests.

Mr Davis expected a teenage boy to be banned from the club’s ground.

He added: “It’s a disgusting thing to happen at any football match, but we will now have await the consequences of this action.

“I expect the league will impose a big fine on the club, but even if we had had enough stewards, it would have been difficult to prevent such a stupid action. I hope we are not docked points, because this had nothing to do with any of the players.”

An official statement from Banbury United issued just after the game said: “The football club regrets that today’s game had to be abandoned at half-time.

“The club will carry out a full investigation into the halftime incident and co-operate with the relevant authorities.”

The game is expected to be replayed in midweek later in the season.

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