It is not the way Robin Hood wanted to win the Friendship Trophy, and certainly not the way Dandy Town Hornets wanted to lose it.

Less than 24 hours after a pulsating cup final, which Hornets won 4-3, the St John’s Road side have been stripped of the title after a mix-up over their team-sheet.

Hornets have paid a heavy price for wrongly sending Kevin Hurdle, who was not named as a substitute before the match, on to the field in the 80th minute as a replacement for Clay Darrell. Yesterday the Bermuda Football Association’s Competitions Committee ruled that Dandy Town must forfeit the match for fielding an ineligible player, and said the trophy would be awarded to Robin Hood.

Derek Stapley, the Hood club president, said the club had nothing but sympathy for Jomar Wilkinson, the Hornets head coach, and his players who he called a “great team”. One, he said, Hood hope to meet again in a final in the future.

“While we respect the BFA’s decision we feel very sorry for Jomar [Wilkinson] and everyone at Dandy Town for the way things turned out — an unfortunate mistake means they not only forfeit the Friendship Cup but they miss out on the tremendous achievement of holding all five major trophies at the same time,” Stapley said.

“The game was played with a high level of intensity, competitiveness and sportsmanship with the players battling for every minute in an entertaining end-to-end match that produced seven excellent goals. For Robin Hood, and any other team in the same position, it is not the way you want to win a game or a trophy, especially given this was our premier team’s first ever cup final.

“Kyle {Lightbourne, the Robin Hood head coach] and the team did incredibly well reaching the final and we are proud of the way they played, especially for coming back from 3-0 down to tie the match, only to lose in the last five minutes to Damon Ming’s superb solo effort.

“We have a fairly young group of guys along with a couple of seasoned players and they are coming together tremendously as a team in our first season back in the top flight.

“Dandy Town are a great team with a superb coaching staff and we hope to have the opportunity of playing against them in another cup final in the future.”

For Dandy Town their historic achievement of being the first side to hold all five domestic trophies at one time has been nullified by a mistake that Michael Weeks, the vice-president of Western Stars Sports Club, said they were still trying to come to terms with. Hurt was the overriding emotion at the club house last night where Brandon Minors, the Hornets captain, was still holding the trophy he will now have to give back.

“It’s unfortunate,” Weeks said. “We were on the cusp of being the first team to have all the trophies that are available. We were excited. At the end of the day it does hurt because we wanted to make history, but rules are rules. How that [mistake] happened, I don’t know. We know the procedures.”

Because Hurdle was not named on the official team sheet prior to kick-off the BFA deemed him ineligible and an investigation that began immediately after Thursday’s final had ended, came to its conclusion last night when the governing body announced their decision.

“The Bermuda Football Association’s Competitions Committee has ruled as follows regarding the outcome of the Friendship Final played on Thursday, January 1st, 2015 at the National Sports Centre,” the BFA said in a statement.

“The Competitions Committee has ruled that Dandy Town fielded an ineligible player (unnamed substituted) namely Kevin Hurdle per the Associations Disciplinary Code Article 39.1(d) under Ineligible Players. As a result, the Competitions Committee ruled in accordance with Article 39.2 under Schedule of Sanctions as it relates to Sanctions against the winning team fielding an ineligible player that Dandy will forfeit the match and the Friendship Final is awarded to Robin Hood Football Club.”