Northwood boss: Mass brawl which led to abandonment was just 'handbags'

A mass brawl which saw Northwood’s Southern League Division One Central match with Bedworth United abandoned on Saturday has been described as ‘handbags’ by Northwood’s player-manager.

Mark Burgess, pictured below, was sent off for his role in the incident, along with a substitute from each bench, after a scuffle following the dismissal of Bedworth’s Daniel Dubidat at Chestnut Avenue.

Dubidat had opened the scoring for the visitors on the half-hour but saw red after kicking out at Northwood’s Steve Brown midway through the second half and had an altercation with players in the Woods dugout.

Burgess said: “It wasn’t a nasty game. It came out of the blue.

"Their centre forward and our defender tangled and as they were getting up their player kicked out and was sent off. As he was walking off, he kicked a ball into our dugout. One of our subs asked him why and he swore back at him, which sparked a big pile-up.

"He sent me off, two of their players, their two coaching staff and one of one of our substitutes. Apparently their manager wouldn’t leave so that’s why he abandoned the game. He jumped over the hoardings behind the dugout but didn’t leave.”

The FA has confirmed it is investigating.

Bedworth manager Stuart Storer said: “I am not knocking the ref but I have to say, if he had handled it differently, things would have been okay. He sent me and my assistant off for trying to calm things down.

"I think the problem was the ref was not decisive enough.”

Struggling AFC Hayes continued their slide to relegation as they were beaten 2-0 by Aylesbury United at the weekend.

They resume their quest for survival on Saturday at a Marlow side who beat Tony Choules’ Uxbridge at the weekend despite having two players sent off at Honeycroft, with Dave Thomas and Matty Woods goals not enough to prevent a 3-2 loss for the Red Army.

Uxbridge are tonight (Tuesday) due to travel to Hanwell Town.

In the Spartan League Premier Division, Hillingdon Borough lost 3-0 at Berkhamstead on Saturday while Harefield United were 2-1 winners at Holmer Green.