Worksop lose 1–0 to Brackley, and the club condemns a supporter who threw liquid over the referee

Sunday 1 November 2026 · By Howard Pennington

Worksop Town lost 1–0 at home to Brackley Town on Saturday, a result that ended a run of four league games without defeat, and the club later issued a statement condemning an incident in which a supporter threw liquid over the match referee.

D.J. Campton-Sturridge scored the only goal in the 29th minute, according to the club’s match report. The ball “was stolen off Greaves on the half way line”, and the Brackley forward “calmly took the ball round Max Dearnley and slot it away”. Worksop pressed after the break, and in the 55th minute a header from Ryan Viggars, from an Oliver Greaves cross, was pushed over the bar by the Brackley goalkeeper. Kris Moore was replaced by Sam Essien at half-time. The club gave the attendance as 646.

The club’s statement, titled “A message to our supporters” and published on Saturday, said: “Today’s incident, which saw a supporter throw liquid over the match referee, is completely unacceptable and will not be tolerated”. It added that “the individual responsible for today’s incident has been identified and banned from the club until further notice”. The statement does not name the match, but Worksop’s only home game on Saturday was against Brackley. No statement from the Football Association, the referee or the police has been found, and the ban is the club’s own action, not a disciplinary finding.

The club’s report called the defeat the end of a “five-game unbeaten run”. That figure probably includes a cup game, and Worksop had won two and drawn two in their previous four league games. They beat King’s Lynn Town 5–0 on Tuesday 27 October. Their form reads L W D D W L.

Worksop are 13th in the Enterprise National League North on 20 points from 15 games, with six wins, two draws and seven defeats. They have scored 20 goals and conceded 21, a goal difference of minus one. They are level on points with Chorley and Hebburn Town, who have each played 14 games, four points behind seventh-placed Hednesford Town and five above 21st-placed Scarborough Athletic. Only the champions are promoted automatically, with second to seventh going into the play-offs, and the bottom four are relegated.

Worksop have no league game on Saturday 7 November. Their next game is at home to South Shields in the FA Trophy second round on Saturday 14 November, with kick-off at 15:00 GMT. South Shields went top of the league on Saturday, with 29 points.

The league resumes at home to Chorley on Saturday 21 November. Worksop then travel to South Shields on Tuesday 24 November, go to Merthyr Town on Saturday 28 November and face Radcliffe on Saturday 5 December. The BBC lists Macclesfield v Worksop for Tuesday 15 December, a date that has not been confirmed elsewhere.

Craig Parry will be able to use the free weekend to prepare for the visit of the league leaders. No quote from the manager has been found, and the club has made no further statement on the incident.