Team leaves at halftime

English side Abingdon United were set to record one of their most memorable wins on Saturday when they were 8-0 up on rivals Abingdon Town, only to find the opposition had left the stadium at halftime to spare themselves of more embarrassment.

The two teams play in the Hellenic League Division One East, the 10th tier of English football, and second-placed United are chasing promotion while Town are bottom of the standings with only two wins all season.

The hosts were 4-0 up in 15 minutes at the Northcourt Road venue and added four more before the break, after which Town’s players refused to come out for the restart.

“In my 30 years of football I’ve never known anything like that to happen,” United secretary John Blackmore told BBC Sport. “The game started off fine, there was no nastiness or anything like that, but we were 8-0 up at halftime and then their manager and players didn’t come out for the second half.

“There was a reasonable crowd there of about 160 people and they were as gobsmacked as anybody else. We want to win a game, but not in this sort of fashion.”