Histon chairman Gareth Baldwin says the Stutes are innocent of any wrongdoing after it emerged they had been fined for fielding an ineligible player.

The Stutes were fined £200 for problems with the registration of defender Ben Coker, but did not lose any points.

Coker failed to declare that he had previously spent time playing abroad.

Baldwin told BBC Radio Cambridgeshire: "The rules allow for leniency in this instance because clubs cannot check every single registration."

Coker joined the Stutes on non-contract terms back in August, but made just one appearance, coming on as a second-half substitute in a 2-1 win over Rushden that month.

this happened in August, clearly there are some people who would love to see Histon's play-off challenge destabilised with these stories Histon chairman Gareth Baldwin

Earlier this season, Mansfield, Oxford and Crawley were docked points for fielding ineligible players, but Baldwin says the situation with Histon is different.

"Oxford, Crawley and Bognor were guilty of playing unregistered players, we registered Ben Coker in the correct way, but he was less than truthful in filling out the form," he said.

"If you register a player, do everything properly and then the player is less than truthful there has to be leniency."

Coker has since played for Bury Town and Barton Rovers in the Southern League - both of whom have also been fined - and Baldwin says he is surprised reports have surfaced now.

"It's very unfortunate, but this happened in August, clearly there are some people who would love to see Histon's play-off challenge destabilised with these stories coming out now," he said.

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