BOWERS & Pitsea have issued a warning to non-league clubs after failing in attempts to overturn their FA Trophy expulsion.

Rob Small’s team were kicked out of cup last week, after it was ruled they had breached FA rules – with midfielder Jamie Dicks playing a match while suspended.

Bowers appealed the decision but, following a two-hour hearing at Wembley, their case was thrown out. The club argued that they had gone to all reasonable lengths to prove that they believed Dicks, who recently signed from Romford, was eligible to play against Egham Town.

However a mistake on the FA Disciplinary Checker System which incorrectly labelled the amount of yellow cards Dicks had received mean Bowers were unaware of his ban.

And assistant manager Mark Ashford, who was at the hearing, has had his say.

“To not to be penalised a club must show it's made all reasonable endeavours to establish a player's disciplinary record when they are signed. We couldn't see Jamie's record on the FA system until he signed for us and it only showed one yellow card, although he was actually on four.

"Jamie told us he thought had five yellows and it turns out there were two players registered on the system - Jamie Dicks for Bowers and Jamie Dicks for Romford (they would normally merge). We told the FA, who told us to sit Jamie out of our next game only for them to then charge us. We were then charged after the replay win at Egham.

"The FA said we should have established earlier about bookings and we didn’t do everything we could have but from our point of view, the punishment doesn’t fit the crime. It is an error with their system.

"We did our due diligence and this will keep happening as when the FA database makes a rare mistake, the club is made to be responsible. We feel let down by the FA and it's a warning for other clubs. We have been open and honest from the start and think the rules should be changed.

"I can only commend the players for their efforts ever since this all began."