The Southern Counties East League won’t be able to rule on a possible points deduction for relegation-threatened Lydd until after the season has finished.

Lydd have lodged an appeal with the Kent FA after they were found guilty of fielding Charlie Dickens while he was meant to be serving a three-game from all football.

The appeal hearing is set to be heard in the week commencing May 12, according to Lydd boss Ryan Smith, more than two weeks after the final round of SCEFL matches.

The Premier Division battlers say they were unaware of the suspension after Dickens was charged with misconduct following a red card playing Sunday League football for Egerton.

It only came to light after Egerton contacted the Kent FA to check on the player’s availability.

Dickens, who was also in the dark, made 10 appearances for the Lydders while banned.

They face losing the four points gained in that period but the league cannot make a judgement until after the FA appeal has been heard.

Lydd are three points from safety with two games to play after losing 2-1 at Whitstable on Tuesday night.

They visit drop rivals Snodland on Easter Monday, the side immediately above them, and finish the campaign at home to mid-table Corinthian.

So while they could still finish outside the bottom two, a four-point deduction, if imposed, would send them down after the event.

An additional four-game ban issued to Dickens for playing while suspended is on hold following the appeal.

Lydd manager Smith maintained the ban should have been flagged by the Kent FA long before he’d played 10 games.

“It’s scandalous,” said Smith.

“No way are Lydd going down because of this, because we didn’t know he was suspended.

“How many other people out there have played when they’re suspended and clubs don’t know? That’s the question.

“If we don’t fill our team in on Full Time (The FA portal) we get a £20 fine. What’s the point filling it in if they don’t check if people are allowed to play? Why are we filling it in?

“They are a paid institution. People get paid to do a job.

“They’re there to protect players and leagues and they haven’t done it. How can it not have been picked up?

“How did it get to 10 games? If we’d won all 10, would we be losing 30 points? Is that what they’re saying?”

Smith believes the authorities could help themselves by keeping Saturday and Sunday incidents separate.

A misconduct charge picked up on a Sunday covers all football.

“It seems to be the crossover between Saturday and Sunday football that creates the issue,” said Smith.

“Keep them separate and if they want to keep it so misconduct covers both, then both clubs who the player is signed for - Saturday and Sunday - should be informed in the same way.

“It’s an undeniable fact that Dicko played when he was suspended but he didn’t know he was suspended, so he hasn’t defied any order by the FA and we didn’t know as a club.”