Histon facing Trophy elimination.

Histon face being kicked out of the FA Trophy after unwittingly fielding an ineligible player in Tuesday night's first round 3-0 win at Maidstone.On-loan West Ham teenager Jack Werndley should not have played, having been signed after the original registration date for the tie, 12 December.

Since then, at a time when Histon were undergoing major internal upheaval, the tie has been postponed six times.

Histon will learn their fate on Monday, when Maidstone expect to be reinstated.

The two clubs are due to attend an FA hearing, when Histon will hope for leniency as a result of all the understandable confusion caused by the off-field tangle that has seen Tony Roach replace former chairman Gareth Baldwin, as well as Alan Lewer taking over as manager in place of Steve Fallon.

"Talks are going on," Lewer told BBC Radio Cambridgeshire. "But we have the chance to take it further at Wembley on Monday if we think it will be worth it.

"All we can do is wait for the decision and continue winning football matches in the meantime."

History suggests that Histon will be thrown out of the competition, but they can at least be comforted by a precedent set this week in Scotland.

Dunfermline Athletic won their appeal for reinstatement to the Scottish Cup after they appealed against a similar offence.

The Scottish FA ordered their fourth round tie against opponents Stenhousemuir be replayed.

Their earlier expulsion arose from them fielding ineligible substitute, Calum Woods, who came off the bench in the second half of a 7-1 win.

Maidstone joint-manager Lloyd Hume told BBC Radio Kent: "Past precedents suggest that teams found guilty of similar offences get kicked out.

"With all the upheaval there has been at Histon in recent weeks, with so many comings and goings, I joked with the chairman about keeping a close eye on their team-sheet.

"It's not the way we wanted to go through. I returned home on Tuesday night thinking we were out of the competition.

"Then I received a phone call telling me that Histon had fielded an ineligible player."

Source: BBC Sport