Hornchurch chairman Colin McBride and manager Jim McFarlane (Gavin Ellis/TGSPHOTO)

McBride: We’ve reminded players of rules

Hornchurch chairman Colin McBride was still in the dark this week, after the FA announced an investigation into suspicious betting patterns in Conference South.

The FA made all clubs in the division aware of the suspicious betting pattern and asked them to re-iterate to all players and club officials their responsibilities.

Two betting companies refused to accept bets on all the games involving Essex sides Billericay, Chelmsford and the Urchins last weekend, but as of yesterday (Thursday) McBride informed the Recorder no conversations had taken place between himself, the FA and the Conference.

“I am very surprised by all of this,” said McBride. “I don’t know of anything more about it than most.

“Once the authorities have investigated, I’m sure we’ll be more in the picture. We have just re-iterated to the players the rules about them betting on football and that they are not allowed to bet on any teams in the division.”

Urchins game at Dorchester was called off last weekend due to a waterlogged pitch and has been re-arranged for Tuesday, April 9.

“We’ll go down there and deal with it, but it does create the usual problems with players having to come away from work earlier,” added McBride.

“It’s frustrating when it’s called off and especially for us because of the momentum we had gained from the last two wins.”