Millom’s Lancashire Amateur Cup tie against Longshaw last Saturday descended into farce after the match was abandoned with half an hour played due to two red-carded players refusing to leave the playing area.

In a further extraordinary twist, the first-ever meeting between the two sides will also apparently be Longshaw’s last-ever fixture, after they folded on Monday.

They hadn’t exactly made a great first impression by turning up just 40 minutes before the 2pm kick-off, which ended up being delayed by ten minutes due to their lax attitude.

The referee quickly tired of the abuse he was receiving from the visiting players at Hanna Field, which intensified after Millom had scored two quick goals to take control of the second-round tie.

Millom manager Danny Pattinson said: “From the word go, their No.9 was just at the ref constantly for every decision, he didn’t let up.

“About 15-20 minutes into the game, the ref pulled up their captain and No.9 to one side and told them ‘I’m refereeing the game, it’s not up to him the decisions I make’.

“We were on top in the game, after going 2-0 up, when we had a corner and the guy who got sent off first was arguing with the decision and said some very harsh stuff to the referee, who straight away pulled out a red card.

“He then sat in the dugout and, from the same corner, their No.9, who had previously been warned, got two yellow cards in quick succession, obviously for dissent again.”

It didn’t end there, with the two guilty players’ actions ensuring the match was brought to a very premature conclusion.

“As they both walked off they just had a dig at some of our players, including pushing a young lad we had at left wing-back and caused a bit of melee, with players having to be pulled apart,” Pattinson said.

“The referee then asked the two guys who’d been sent off to leave the playing area and they just blank refused and I think it was after the third time of saying ‘if you don’t leave I’m going to have to abandon the game’, he just blew his whistle and said that’s it.”

Pattinson revealed that his players had to ensure the referee was able to leave the ground safely and that, with Longshaw ceasing to be, Millom would be advanced in the competition by the Lancashire FA.