LUNCH DATE WAS NOT ON U’S MENU

PAULTON ROVERS chairman David Bissex says he doesn’t blame Sutton United for the decision to turn down an early kick-off in their FA Cup clash next weekend – even though it denied his club national TV exposure! The fourth qualifying round clash between Rovers and the National League high-fliers had been handpicked to be streamed live on the BBC website and red button next Saturday. But Sutton turned down the offer as they weren’t willing to make the 120-mile trip to just outside Bristol for a proposed 12.30pm kick-off. It meant Rovers missing out on £1,000 for the broadcast but Bissex holds no grudge and even suggested that his EvoStik South West club might have done the same if the roles had been reversed. “I spoke with their chairman and I understand his reasons,” Bissex told The NLP. “They’ve got players in Essex and they would have had an awful lot of training. They would have probably had an overnight stop and the financial benefits would have gone. “We possibly might have felt the same way if we were away, though we would have probably said yes. It would have been nice to put the profile of our club up again, having not been at this stage of the competition since 2009. “We are still looking forward to it though. They’re a big club and have a lot of FA Cup history having beat Cheltenham, Wimbledon and Leeds last year. They’re full-timers and we’re not, but we’ll give it a good shot. It’s the beauty of the cup, anything can happen.” In a statement on the Sutton website, manager Paul Doswell confirmed: “We were delighted to receive an enquiry from the BBC about streaming the tie on their website, but after careful consideration we didn’t think that this was practical. “To clarify, we were asked by the BBC late on Wednesday if we would agree to an early kick-off at 12.30pm. This would have meant leaving Sutton United at 7am, with players getting up at 5.30am to travel to the ground. “Preparing for a 3.00pm kick off, we had already booked our coach and a pre-match meal at a hotel close to Bristol, as we want to prepare professionally for a difficult away fixture.”