No TV tie for Chasetown

Chasetown have suffered a cash blow after Sky TV pulled out of plans to screen their FA Cup replay with Port Vale.

Sky chiefs told the club that floodlights at their Church Street ground are not bright enough to screen the game on their High Definition sports channel.

The decision – revealed to chairman John Donnelly this morning – means the club miss out on a £75,000 cash bonus that they would have got if Sky had screened the game.

The club have now decided to move the game back to its original Tuesday night date.

Chairman John Donnelly said: "We are all very disappointed – we had planned for the game to be on Sky right up until this morning.

"We had planned to put the extra lighting in this week and had meetings with the company who were going to do it, but I think Sky decided that the Swansea game was a safer bet at such short notice."

Mr Donnelly had earlier said the club's FA Cup run would accelerate plans for a new £200,000 stand at the club's Church Street ground.

After earning the replay on Sunday he said the club would step up the bid to build a new, 500-seater structure.

He wouldn't say how much the club have made from the Cup run so far.

But he added: "I can talk in financial terms as to what this means to us but I won't be pinned down on numbers.

"All I will say is this draw is massive for this football club. We can take this further."

Mr Donnelly said if there was enough cash from the FA Cup run then the stand would go ahead – providing the council "come along with us and gave planning permission".