Ireland Rangers? miserable season has taken a turn for the worse ? the team lying pointless and last in the Premier Division have just been thrown out of the Friendship Trophy.

A December 18 1-0 victory over Devonshire Colts ? their only win of the season aside from an FA Cup drubbing of Commercial opposition ? has now been overturned on a technicality, dumping Rangers out of tonight?s cup semi-final clash with North Village.

The Malabar-based club finally learned last Thursday that fielding an ineligible Wendell Anderson in the Colts game had cost them their place in the final four of the competition.

?Of course we are disappointed,? said club vice-president and acting coach Dwayne DeRosa yesterday.

?The players spent the whole of Christmas thinking they were going to be playing in a cup semi-final and then we find out we are not.

?They took it pretty hard and some of the players were talking about marching on the BFA or even turning out at the semi-final and staging some form of protest.

?We just feel that, as one of the smaller clubs, we have been hard done by.?

Anderson had been sent off two matches before the cup game and, in accordance with procedures, the referee had taken has registration card and handed it in to the BFA.

The defender sat out the following match but an oversight meant that neither he nor the coach went to the BFA to pick up the card, meaning for the Colts clash at Wellington Oval there was no registration card present.

Although it is understood the referee on the day warned the team there could be consequences if he played without a card, the team sheet was still signed and the player took to the field.

DeRosa was contacted by the BFA by December 21 warning him of the ineligible player and DeRosa immediately launched an appeal.

However, the Ireland Rangers administrator was left furious by BFA officials because he arrived at a meeting of the Appeals Committee on January 12 only to be told that no appeal was possible for a decision made in relation to the cup competition.

?It was a total embarrassment to take time out of my work day to attend a hearing to be told that there could be no appeal even allowed,? fumed DeRosa.

?They could have told me this two weeks before in late December and we wouldn?t have spent the whole of the Christmas period thinking we might be able to appeal the decision and get back into the competition.

?We were hopeful of appeal and all the players were looking forward to playing in the cup semi-final which is why the players are so upset about this and why they are thinking of going down to the game at Devonshire Rec. and making a fuss.

?If we have to accept the decision that is fine, but the way it has been handled is a joke. Who are the people running the offices there and do they really know what they are doing?

?Why tell us we have grounds for appeal and then, once we have appealed, tell us that no appeals are even allowed. They wasted my time and they got the hopes of the players up unnecessarily.?

David Sabir, general secretary of the BFA, confirmed Ireland Rangers had forfeited their Friendship Trophy berth due to fielding an ineligible player and also confirmed that no appeals were possible on executive committee decisions in cup competitions.

?A player who is unable to produce an eligible registration card to the referee at the match is deemed ineligible,? said Sabir.

?And in this case there was an ineligible player fielded by Ireland Rangers and, according to matchday procedures and the rules of the competition, the team now forfeits their place in the competition.?

So it is Devonshire Colts, who sit one place off the bottom of the Premier table, who will take to the field this evening at 9 p.m. at Devonshire Recreation Club against Dudley Eve finalists North Village.

In the Shield semi-final at 7 p.m., Paget take on St. George?s.

Ireland Rangers are not the first team to be punished for fielding an ineligible player. Paget were kicked out of the FA Cup last year and docked league points for the same misdemeanour while Devonshire Cougars were booted out of the FA Cup in 2003.