'People’s health comes before anything at the moment' - Haywards Heath Town boss reacts to suspension of football

Haywards Heath Town boss Shaun Saunders says the second lockdown has come at the wrong time for his team - but he understands why it has to happen.
Shaun SaundersShaun Saunders
Shaun Saunders

The FA announced today (Tuesday) that football below Step 3 would be curtailed for 28 days as the country goes into the second national lockdown.

This means the likes of Heath, Burgess Hill Town and Hassocks will not play after tonight.

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And Saunders said it is disappointing in terms of football.

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He said: "It's a bit of a nightmare. People’s health comes before anything at the moment but as disappointing as it is in football terms, it is what it is and we have to abide by it.

"Timing is not great for us. I totally get it and understand why it has to happen and am respectful of it we have to ride it and hope we come out of the other side."

Saunders also added that it's too early to say what long-term effect it may have on the season.

He said: "I am hopeful that we will come out of the other side of lockdown and things will get back to normal sooner rather than later. But who knows.

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"It’s a shame because we have got a bit of momentum going and we wanted to keep playing."

After a poor start to the season, Heath had started to put a run together with a 4-2 win against Hythe Town last week and 2-2 draw against Sevenoaks Town on Saturday - a game they were a minute away from winning.

Saunders said: "We played very well. Very very unlucky not to get all the points. The equalising goal was worthy of taking a point from any game. Our performance again was fantastic and to a man we were bang on our game."

"If we can get through this lockdown and come back sooner rather than later and hopefully get straight back at it."