HENLEY Wanderers have appealed to the Rugby Football Union so that they can take part in the Southern Counties League promotion play-off.

By beating Grove in their final match on Saturday, Wanderers finished second in the North Division table and so qualified to take on Frome, the South Dvision runners-up, for a place in next season's South West Division 2.

However, the following day, Henley heard that their appeal against an earlier two-point deduction for registration irregularities, originally lodged on March 29, had been turned down.

The club have now appealed to the RFU, who will hear the cases on Tuesday, May 3. So the play-off match has had to be postponed.

If the second appeal is lost, Frome will take on Stow-on-the-Wold, who would move above Henley into second place.

"I think that the delay in hearing the result of the first appeal, tells you everything about this case," said Henley Wanderers' president Noel North.

"We may have breached the regulations, but we were badly let down by the authorities," he added.

Meanwhile, further down the league, North, who is secetary of the Berks, Bucks & Oxon Premier Division, clarified the confusing position over promotion and relegation.

For instance, Oxford, who finished fourth from bottom, are safe from relegation, (contradicting the table that appeared in yesterday's Oxford Mail).

North said that restructuring means that only two teams are likely to be relegated from this division. So Littlemore should be okay as well.

Next season, there will be a Premier A Division - running alongside the existing Premier Division - for second and third teams of clubs.