On-loan midfielder Luke McCullough may have extended his loan with Tranmere until the end-of-the-season, however, he’s still ineligible for tomorrow’s FA Cup replay at Southport.
Doncaster Rovers manager Grant McCann confirmed two weeks ago that he was happy for McCullough to stay out on-loan with Tranmere, although Rovers counterpart Micky Mellon has not yet responded to that publicly.
Fans speculated on social media that McCullough would now be eligible to play for the club in the FA Cup, easing an injury crisis with Ollie Banks out until the new year and Harvey Gilmour only returning to action as a sub at Notts County yesterday.
However, regardless of how long the player is at Prenton Park, he won’t be permitted to play at Southport on Monday night.
Due to FA Cup rules, if a player wasn’t eligible for the original tie of the round, he isn’t eligible to play in any subsequent replays or re-arranged games in the event of a postponement.
Clause 15(f) of the FA Challenge Cup rules stats:
All players must have been eligible to play in the original tie in order to play in a replayed or postponed match; however a player who has been suspended according to the disciplinary procedures under the Rules of The Association may play in a postponed or replayed match after the term of his suspension has expired. In the event of a replay, postponement, or abandonment of a match, a Club may request dispensation from the Professional Game Board to select a replacement goalkeeper who is a registered player, but was not a registered player prior to the “Registration Deadline” (as defined below). Any such request must be made to The Association in writing (together with evidence substantiating the reasons for the request), and received no later than 24 hours before the scheduled commencement of the relevant match. Dispensation will be at the complete discretion of the Professional Game Board.
Monday’s game offers both Southport and Tranmere an enormous incentive of hosting Tottenham in Round Three in early January. The BT Sport cameras will be at Haig Avenue screening the game live in front of a sell-out crowd.
