AFTER witnessing what I can only describe as a farcical disgrace of a match on Saturday I feel it is necessary to put this game into context.

Ebbsfleet came in desperate need of points in their fight against relegation. They were going to use any means necessary to get a point at least and ideally three. Their feigning of injury, time wasting and tactical fouling meant that we saw one side who had football in mind and another who wanted their means to justify their ends. It was a unedifying spectacle for a paying public made distastefully worse by yet unproven allegations of racism and xenophobia.

The referee Aaron Jackson should have been aware that this was a club with ‘previous’.

Ebbsfleet were fined £12,000 in October 2019 for being in breach of Rule E20 “failing to ensure that their players conducted themselves in an orderly manner” and in the previous 12 months had fines of £7,000, £5,000, £2,000, £1,500 imposed on them for the same breach. They also had punishments dating back to 2016.

The FA Commission stated that the club and I quote: “Had an absolutely appalling record for failing to control it’s players” and “the club (Ebbsfleet) should be under no illusion that time is fast approaching where a commission will have no alternative than to impose a points deduction”.

I thought from the outset that this would be Pools’ most difficult game of the season so far. We played well enough on Saturday, and missed chances but were undone ultimately by weak refereeing and a team who cheated to win.

David Kelly, Hartlepool season ticket holder since 1996