Enniskillen Town have hit out at the decision of the Fermanagh and Western to not postpone their game against Beragh Swifts which was fixed for last Saturday.

Town had contacted the league on Friday to make them aware of Covid-19 cases within their squad but the league's Emergency Committee voted 8-1 that the game should go ahead. When further positive cases came to light on Saturday morning the club again requested a postponement but the Emergency Committee once more voted 8-1 that the game should not be postponed.

Town stress that they had enough players to fulfill the fixture but given the high rates of Covid-19 within the squad, and in the area in general, they decided against playing having sought medical advice on the matter.

"It was purely about the health and welfare of the players and others going forward - you have to think about other people," said Town joint manager Rory Judge.

"The issue was not about playing the game, it may have been if our reserves had a game but they didn't, we had 14 players available so we had no problem getting a team out.

"We had a number of cases within the squad and we didn't want it spreading any further with maybe some players having it and not knowing.

"We had advice from Dr Toal who is local GP and his advice was basically that it unsafe to play and we also contacted the PHA and they have come back to us to confirm that it would have being reckless to put a team out given the rising number of cases in the club and the potential of putting others at risk of harm. We are also waiting on a response from the health minister.

"We would feel that it is not a big deal to have the game rescheduled as we are only at the start of the season. We would play it at any time, we are not afraid to play anybody but we are afraid of putting the wider community at risk," he added.

Fermanagh and Western Chairman Neil Jardine explained that each case is take on its own merit and that there is no set ruling on Covid cases within a squad. He also says that the Committee were not told by the club that they had been advised not to play the game.

"To some degree there isn't a definitive rule on the matter, you go back to what UEFA have said and it is 13 fit players and a goalkeeper you can field a team but how readily that transfers to the game at our level, I'm not sure.

"I think that's one of the things the Committee took into consideration, the amount of players they would have had available with only one team to field. The Emergency Committee voted 8-1 that the match should go ahead. They were presented with all the evidence that Enniskillen Town had given us on two occasions and the vote didn't change. It is taken on a case by case basis and on this occasion there was no direct recommendation from PHA that the game shouldn't go ahead because of the number of cases. At no time had we been informed through the club that the PHA had said that the game was not to go ahead," said Jardine.

Judge confirmed that Town will appeal the Fermanagh and Western's decision while he says that they will follow PHA advice on whether their game this weekend should go ahead.

"We will appeal the decision and with regards this Saturday's game we'll take our lead from the PHA and what they advise," he concluded.