GREAT Harwood manager John Hughes was celebrating a League Challenge Cup win on Saturday - but his joy was short-lived.
Harwood got their revenge over Atherton Collieries, the team they battled with last April in NWCL Division One drop zone.
Collieries survived, Harwood were relegated but the Robins bounced back to enjoy a 2-1 win over Atherton on Saturday in the cup as some kind of pay back.
But Harwood soon had their celebrations stopped as they were disqualified because their recent signing, Dennis Hill, had played in the first round for Padiham.
"I am gutted for the players," said Hughes. "They put in a big performance on Saturday, they worked hard and now they can't play in the competition.
"We are disappointed. Dennis is ill so we are not sure whether he knew what would happen but it is one of those things."
Striker John Eastham scored the opener, Paul Fisher scored the second before a Vasillis Theophanous own goal made it 2-1.
Theophanous, Harwood's Cyprus international, was missing on Tuesday as he was with his country's Under 21 side who faced Wales.
But Harwood still put on a decent show against UniBond promotion chasers Marine in the United Co-operatives Challenge Trophy (formerly the Lancashire Marsden Trophy), despite losing 3-1. Ed O'Neill scored Harwood's goal .
"We played well on Saturday and Tuesday and there are big signs of improvement," said Hughes. "The front two of Eastham and Yakub Khan are always looking like they will score and Darren Rodgers is chipping in as well."
Harwood now have to improve their league place of 15th at Daisy Hill on Saturday (ko 3pm) who are below Harwood in the league.
"We have got to start climbing that table now," said Hughes.
"We have only played nine games so we are playing catch-up and we want to start rearranging a few league games now for midweek so, hopefully, we can move up."
