THE Warrington Town goalkeeper duped into drinking a rival fan’s urine has been suspended for his act of retaliation and will miss Saturday's crunch clash with South Shields.

Tony Thompson was sent off in the second half of Saturday’s FA Trophy defeat to Guiseley at Cantilever Park for squirting the contents of his water bottle at the fan said to have entered the goal area and switched the keeper’s rehydration fluid for urine.

The 28-year-old summer signing from Altrincham FC received a three-match ban for the red card, which was reduced to a one-game ban on appeal this afternoon.

West Yorkshire higher-league outfit Guiseley, meanwhile, have identified the fan who switched the drinks and issued him with an indefinite ban from all of their home and away matches.

Thompson said he was ‘knocked sick’ by the incident and Tweeted he had ‘fallen out of love with the game’ but after support from everyone at the Northern Premier League club to rally round their keeper, he trained on Tuesday night with the intentions of being available for Saturday’s home clash with second-placed South Shields should his charge be fully rescinded.

Town chiefs are attempting to bring a keeper in on loan now that their number one is not available and chairman Toby Macormac said phone calls have been made throughout the week in case of Thompson’s unavailability.

Thompson and Macormac both gave statements to Cheshire Police on Monday night and handed over all available video footage and evidence of the bottle-swap incident that was described as ‘disgusting’ by Yellows manager Mark Beesley after the game.

“It’s an unsavoury incident that just has no place at any level in any sport. I’m glad that Guiseley have dealt with it how they have and I’m sure the police will follow it up. They class it as a serious incident. There could have been any substance in that bottle, they could have put anything in,” said Macormac.

Town have issued a further statement this afternoon.

Macormac said: “While in some ways the reduction in Tony's suspension is welcomed, it is disappointing not to have had it rescinded completely. It makes it even more challenging for us in terms of considering what to do with our goalkeeper situation.

“Clubs are understandably reluctant to loan out another player for just one match; and we wouldn’t want to agree to a deal that requires a goalkeeper to play three or four matches with us, as that would then further impact on Tony, who has already been put through enough during this process.

“We are faced with potentially having to play young Kian Hall, who only made his first team debut at the weekend, in one of our biggest matches of the season as a consequence of an unprecedented incident.”

The statement continues: "After an approach by Cheshire Police earlier this week, video footage and other evidence was shared with them, including the water bottle used in the incident, which was tested and confirmed to contain urine. Any further punishment and investigation in to the incident is now in their hands.

"Video footage and eye-witness statements were also shared with Guiseley AFC, and we note their statement with regards to identifying a fan and his indefinite ban while they continue with their own investigations.

"Regarding the outcome of the match itself, it was confirmed to the club by the FA earlier this week that even in light of an investigation, there were no competition rules that would affect the result of the match, meaning there was no chance of a replay being ordered."

Macormac added: “Obviously as well as the human impact on Tony, it is disappointing from a club point of view that the incident contributed to our exit from the FA Trophy.

“It’s particularly frustrating as the prize money associated with progress in the competition would have been much needed, given we’ve been forced to spend upwards of £8,000 in recent weeks on pitch works and protecting the pitch due to ongoing attacks from crows, in a not too dissimilar situation to what was suffered by Grantham Town earlier this season.

“We must now move on from this incident and get our league campaign back on track with successive home games.”

After Yellows welcome South Shields to Cantilever Park this Saturday, Stalybridge Celtic come to town on December 3.

The next home game after that is against Marine on Boxing Day.

Striker Josh Amis, who was also sent off in the defeat to Guiseley, will serve a three-match ban – ruling him out of the South Shields and Stalybridge home games, as well as the trip to Morpeth Town on December 10.