Denton Phoenix, who had to concede a Lewes and District League match before Christmas because they were banned by the Sussex FA, have now been fined for not fulfilling their fixture.

The league has fined Division Four title chasers Phoenix £10 for their failure to play the Division Four match against Newhaven Social.

But Denton were unable to play the game because the Sussex FA had banned them from playing football until an outstanding £41 fine was paid by their striker Paul Prestidge.

That meant Phoenix had no choice but to concede the match. A week later, the club settled the fine and are once again playing their matches.

But angry Phoenix boss Mark Rees blasted: "This is the ultimate insult. It really does seem that the league has a problem with us. How could we fulfil the fixture when we were forced not to play because of the wrongdoing of one of our players?

"I cannot believe it. When I first heard I thought it was a joke, but no it's reality."

League chairman Dave Pankhurst said Phoenix could only blame themselves for being punished.

He said: "I've no sympathy. They had ages to pay up the fine owed to the Sussex FA. It was the club's responsibility.

"It is a league rule that any team that fails to fulfil a fixture is liable for a fine. We deemed it was their fault the match couldn't be played, because they had time to cough up the fine."

So far Pankhurst has not received the fine and failure to pay will result in the amount being increased and could even lead to yet another ban - this time issued by the league and not the Sussex FA.

The chairman added: "The only correspondence I've had with Denton Phoenix was from Phillip Beal, who was informing me that he had resigned as secretary of the club. He said he didn't want to be associated with their misdemeanours."

Beal said: "I kept receiving letters about disciplinary matters and fines. It was getting too much for me."

The league is investigating complaints made about poor discipline from Denton Phoenix in their match against Libertys in October, a game which saw Prestidge red carded and subsequently fined.