A sickness bug could end up hitting Huntingdon Town in the pocket.

Struggling Town were forced to postpone their top-versus-bottom United Counties League Premier Division trip to leaders Leicester Nirvana last Saturday after a host of players went down with illness.

They have been charged with failing to fulfil a fixture by UCL bosses - an offence which carries a £500 penalty unless the club can provide medical documentation of each player’s ailments.

Chairman Doug McIlwain said: “A lot of the lads had a get-together last Thursday and ended up poorly.

“By all accounts they were struggling to get off the toilet let alone travel for more than an hour to play 90 minutes of football. We simply didn’t have enough players to send a team and had no choice other than to notify the league that we wouldn’t be able to play the game.

“We do have 97 players registered on the league website, but that is not an accurate reflection of our position as the vast majority of them have moved on. Our manager, Scott Witherall, actually works with less than 20 players.

“Hopefully the league will look upon the situation sympathetically.”

A league spokesman confirmed the game was postponed after they had been notified last Saturday morning that eight Town players had gone down with sickness. The fixture will be rescheduled for later in the season.

Huntingdon, who are seven points from safety, now have back-to-back home games as they bid to climb off the bottom of the Premier Division. They host former boss Seb Hayes’ Peterborough Northern Star side at Jubilee Park this Saturday.