Manager Ryan Smith says he will fight until his last breath to overturn a points deduction that would relegate Lydd Town.

Smith is set to take the Lydders’ case to an FA appeal at Wembley after a Southern Counties East Football League (SCEFL) hearing on Monday night ruled against his club.

The league intend to deduct four points after proving Charlie Dickens had featured in seven matches while banned from all football following a misconduct charge picked up playing for Egerton in the Ashford & District Sunday League.

The matches covered the period between January 14 and February 19.

Lydd argued they didn’t know Dickens was suspended, pointing to failings with the Whole Game System, where details of suspended players are logged.

The league, however, were satisfied that Dickens’ ban had been showing on the system.

Egerton also wrote to the league accepting full responsibility for the situation and urging them not to punish Smith’s club.

Lydd will lose the points gained in a 5-0 win over Glebe and a goalless draw with eventual champions Faversham, unless their appeal is successful.

That would see them drop back into the bottom two by a point, with Snodland handed a reprieve from relegation.

Lydd had climbed out of the drop zone by winning eight of their last 14 matches but now face the prospect of Step 6 football next season and losing their place in the FA Cup.

“I’m heartbroken, devastated, I feel robbed, but I’m going to dig in as hard as I can, regardless of what anyone says,” said Smith.

“I don’t care if it’s Wembley, the civil court, whatever.

“We didn’t know Charlie was suspended and that’s the bottom line.

“I don’t care if people hate me, I will fight as far as I can, for as long as I can. I’m defiant. I don’t care if I have to remortgage my house, I will fight them to every single corner of this earth.

“I have Lydd at my core and if the club are wronged, I will fight to my last breath.

“Having this on my head when we haven’t done anything wrong is crazy.

“It could cost £2,000 to have the appeal heard at Wembley but money’s irrelevant to this.

“It’s scandalous the way we’ve been treated.

“The league don’t have to take points off us.

“The FA now need to step in and do the right thing.

“The club are in, I’m in, the lawyers are now stepping in.”

Under league rules, any club found to have played an ineligible player “shall have any points gained from that match or matches deducted from its record, up to a maximum of 12 points”.

That can change in “exceptional circumstances”.

However, in their written findings, the sitting SCEFL commission said they “were satisfied that the suspension must have been showing on the system and thus deemed that no exceptional circumstances were valid for this case”.