Hythe Town’s Kent derby with Sittingbourne was postponed minutes before kick-off amid uncertainty over Covid tests.

Boss Steve Watt took the step of getting everyone swabbed on Monday after one of his players had tested positive through work.

But when the referee learned that five players were still waiting on results, last night's Isthmian South East game was thrown into doubt.

It left the depleted Cannons with nine players - including one coming back from a dislocated shoulder who'd been named on a four-man bench - and unable to fulfil the fixture.

Hythe are waiting to learn whether they’ll face any sanctions but Watt hopes common sense will prevail.

They had contacted the Isthmian League on Monday, to advise them of the positive test, and were informed the game could go ahead.

But the situation changed when it emerged players, who had been tested, were still waiting on results.

These have since come back negative, with one result outstanding.

The irony is that if Hythe hadn’t had their squad tested, the game would have been played but that doesn’t sit well with Watt.

“Morally, I couldn’t let that game go ahead without getting everyone tested, but it’s come back to bite us,” said Watt.

“The ones who’d been in close proximity with the positive player, the ones who shared a car with him, came back negative.

“That gave me confidence everyone would but this is a grey area because I couldn’t see anything about self-isolating if the test has just been precautionary and you have no symptoms.

“It’s not our fault, it’s not the league’s fault, it’s not the referee’s fault - what we needed was better government guidance in the first place.

"I had my test on Monday and nobody said anything to me about self-isolating.

“By doing the right thing in getting the players tested we’ve done the wrong thing, which is ridiculous.

“By the sounds of it, if nobody had been tested, the game would have gone ahead as normal, but I can’t see that’s morally the right thing to do.

“We’re dealing with a situation we’ve never dealt with before.

“Maybe they need to look at it and show flexibility in moving matches, say, even 24 hours.

“I don’t see why that can’t be done, and then we could have played.

“I’ve got a 79-year-old father-in law, players have got elderly relatives and young babies.

“What if players were subsequently tested after the game’s been played and lots came back positive? That’s then a much worse issue.

“I understand we hadn’t had all the results back but the higher-risk ones had all been negative.

"Since last night the rest have come back negative, bar one I’m still waiting on.

“Everyone’s learning as they go along, which is why no one’s to blame for what happened.

“I can only apologise to everyone at Sittingbourne.

“The league will decide what to do but I feel it would be unjust if Sittingbourne are awarded the points when we’ve tried to do the right thing.

“People might argue the ones who hadn’t had their results should have stayed at home.

“I accept that argument but nobody had been contacted by track and trace, none of them had symptoms and, looking at the guidelines, I couldn’t see anything about self-isolating after a precautionary test.”

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