Somerset Eagles confirmed yesterday that they will be lodging an appeal to have their First Division Shield semi-final match with Southampton Rangers replayed on the grounds the referee did not adhere to laws governing the competition.

Rangers won Tuesday?s contest on 5-4 penalty kicks. However, referee Anthony Francis? decision to go straight to penalties contravened rules.

According to rule 5e: ?The duration of the match shall be 90 minutes, played in two equal periods. If at the end of regulation time the score is tied, then 30 minutes extra time shall be played in two equal periods.

?If the score then remains tied, the game shall be decided by kicks from the penalty mark according to the Laws of FIFA.?

Somerset Bridge Recreation Club president Marc Bean said his club are now seeking to have the match replayed.

?I was actually very frustrated at the conclusion of the match and as president of Somerset Bridge Recreation Club I would like for the game to be replayed,? Bean told .

?There is an appeal in process now and hopefully the BFA will make a decision which is just and according to the rules. Obviously a mistake has been made by the referee who should have known the rules and regulations of the competition in the first place.

?Rules are rules and I would expect that the rules of this competition will be applied across the board in an equal manner because Somerset Bridge Recreation Club should not be punished as a result of mistakes that were made somewhere along the process.? Southampton Rangers? coach, Brian (Bulla) Anderson, agreed that rules must be adhered to, but questioned whether Somerset Eagles would have challenged the referee?s decision had they won the match instead.

?Did they (Eagles) make the protest before or after they had lost the penalty shootout? When the referee ended the game I asked him ?what?s the next step? and he replied penalties.

?I just went with what the ref called and that?s basically it. But if that?s what the rule states, then that?s what it states. And whatever decision is made, I guess we?ll just have to go along with it,? Anderson said.

Tuesday night?s incident was not an isolated one.

In January 2005 the Friendship Trophy quarter-final between North Village and Dandy Town ? which is governed by the same laws as the First Division Shield competitions ? descended into chaos when referee George O?Brien ordered the match to be replayed instead of awarding penalty kicks after extra-time had failed to separate the two teams at St.John?s Field.

Bermuda Football Association refused to reschedule the match, and instead ordered the two clubs to show up at Devonshire Recreation Club for a penalty shootout 48 hours later. In protest, Town boycotted the penalty shootout and Village were later declared winners of the cup tie.

For their part in the fiasco, senior referee O?Brien and referee assistants Curtis Richardson and Tracy Adams were each fined half their match fee.

Coincidentally, referee O?Brien and referee assistant Tracy Adams were also involved in Tuesday night?s match at BAA Field.

Bermuda Referee Association (BRA) secretary Cornell Castle said the matter is now in the hands of the BFA who will eventually have the final say.

?The BFA will have to rule on this decision as matters such as these fall under the BFA chairman of referees,? Castle added.

When reached yesterday, BFA chairman of referees Lee Holder, stated: ?The BFA actually have their executive meeting tonight and this will definitely be on the agenda and dealt with.

?We will look at the rules and at previous actions, and hope to be consistent.?

A disturbed BFA league and cup competitions chairman, Charles Clarke, added: ?I?m just disappointed that every other season we have to come to this.?