Advertisement

Non-league team forced to play outfield players in goal after losing all their keepers to injury

Biggleswade Town have no goalkeeper for Saturday’s game with Gosport
Biggleswade Town have no goalkeeper for Saturday’s game with Gosport

Remember being in the playground at school picking teams to play football at lunchtime? It was always the last to be picked who had to go in goal and now non-league side Biggleswade Town are being forced to sort of do the same thing.

All three of the Evo-Stik Southern Premier side’s goalkeepers are injured and after the league refused their application for an emergency signing after the March 22 deadline, manager Chris Nunn has little choice but to play an outfield player in goal for Saturday’s trip to Gosport Borough, and potentially more games with three in five games on the horizon.

January signing Liam Gooch is the latest shot-stopper to be sidelined after breaking his hand in Tuesday’s Beds Senior Cup Final loss to Luton Town to leave Nunn out of options.

READ MORE: Lazio ‘tricked into paying €2million to email scammers instead of Feyenoord’

READ MORE: Mourinho ‘convinces Bale to join United’, Chelsea and City ‘on Isco red alert’

READ MORE: Aubameyang’s brain recovery toy and football’s craziest training games

“It’s crazy,” he said to CometSport. “It’s out of my hands but I’ll feel sorry for my players. I don’t understand why we have a registration cut off, it’s ridiculous,

“Why have it for this level? If I start talking to someone I could get done for an illegal approach.

The Southern League are reviewing the matter but a decision may not come quickly enough to avoid an outfield player going in goal and to decide that, Nunn will hold shooting practice tonight to see which of his players have the best hands.

He added: “We’re going to have shooting practice on Thursday and whoever does the best in goal will start on Saturday.”

“I’ve only really got tomorrow to find someone, register them and they’ve got to go to Gosport on Saturday, Dunstable Monday and Tiverton on Wednesday.

“We’re just trying to sign a young lad in. The games we’ve got coming up aren’t important to us but they are to other teams. They do it at the highest level so why they can’t do it in the Southern Premier League I do not know.”