BURY will appear before a Football Association inquiry tomorrow to explain why they played ineligible player, Stephen Turnbull, against Chester City in last week’s FA Cup second round replay at the Deva Stadium.

The Gigg Lane club played an ineligible player earlier this year, and have a £5,000 suspended fine hanging over them after being found guilty of the offence.

Turnbull had an outstanding game, and helped Bury to win the match 3-1. They were due to face Ipswich Town in the third round of the competition next month.

However, it now appears that they will be ejected from the competition, a similar offence happened two years ago, and St Albans City were thrown out of the tournament after winning one of the qualifying rounds.

Bury will be represented at the hearing by director, Ian Mills, secretary Gill Neville, and manager, Chris Casper.

Chester City director, Bob Gray, said last night: “We genuinely sympathise with the predicament that Bury find themselves in, but it appears unfortunately that they are making a habit of playing ineligible players.

“Each club receives a copy of the rules of the FA Cup each season, and precedents on this type of issue have previously been set. We will now await the findings of the FA inquiry with interest.”

Meanwhile, Chester’s youngsters’ excellent season continued at the weekend, when they defeated Macclesfield Town 2-1 in an FA Youth Alliance fixture.