A FOOTBALL team whose ‘tough tackling’ prompted opponents to refuse to come out for the second half say they feel it was a “storm in a tea cup”.

Spennymoor Town abandoned the pre-season friendly at half time on Tuesday over fears they would be seriously injured by their Newton Aycliffe rivals.

Jason Ainsley, Spennymoor manager, said although he was not proud of the decision, he felt the club had no choice but to halt the game at Aycliffe’s Moor Lane ground.

Yesterday (July 29) Aycliffe’s manager Peter Dixon hit back at Mr Ainsley for what he branded “a storm in a tea cup – a big do about nothing”.

Defending his players, Mr Dixon told The Northern Echo: “It wasn’t a dirty game in any shape or form, but it was competitive. We had two choices against Spennymoor (now two leagues above Aycliffe) – we knew before the game if we stood off and let them play, they’ve got players that could hurt us or potentially embarrass us with the scoreline.

“We were adamant that wasn’t going to happen. It paid dividends – we were winning 1-0 at half time.”

Mr Dixon claimed he made seven changes at the end of the first half following a suggestion from the referee that a couple of his players were “close to getting cautioned”.

Aycliffe club chairman Allan Oliver said: “In over 40 years as a player, manager and chairman I’ve never seen anything like it. Neither team’s physio set foot on the pitch and no players left it through injury, so I was as gobsmacked.”

Mr Ainsley, who was unavailable for comment, this week said he was “gutted” by the decision but thought it was the right one, adding: “I couldn’t have lived with myself if we had continued and one of our players had been seriously hurt. We have no problem with a physical game but this wasn’t in the context of the fixture.”

Durham FA announced this week an investigation had been launched into the game.