"I'm gutted for the lads...but there are more important things than football!" Skegness Town manager Nathan Collins reacts to his club's title challenge being halted

Skegness Town’s hopes of being crowned league champions are over after the majority of this season’s non-league action was declared null and void.

The Lilywhites sat one point behind Northern Counties East League Division One leaders Winterton Rangers with a game in hand before football was suspended due to the Coronavirus outbreak.

On Thursday, the FA declared that all non-league football below the National League set-up was to be stopped and results expunged.

“Initially I was obviously very disappointed to get to this point in the season, three-quarters of the way through, and not be able to finish,” Collins told The Standard.

“I expected it to be settled on points per game if I’m honest.

“But after taking some time to reflect, there are a lot of things going on at the minute, more important than football.

“Obviously, the sort of character I am, had they done it that way and we’d been promoted or whatever, I wouldn’t have felt like we’d done it properly.”

Had the campaign been decided on points per game, third-place Selby would have been declared champions on 2.24 ppg, with Town a very close second (2.23) and Winterton dropping to third (2.18).

However, had the season been able to run its course, Collins had faith his squad would have finished on top of the pile.

“I’m gutted for the lads. We looked good in the run in, none of the top teams to play, and I felt we could have won the league,” he added.

“To go from a relegation battle last year to winning the league would have been a really nice finish.

“But people are losing their lives. It’s affecting business, it’s affecting my business.

“There are more important things at the moment, but when things go back to normal I’m sure we’ll be looking forward to football again.

“A lot of the lads are gutted and it’s really raw for them at the moment.”

Thursday’s FA statement read: “The FA and NLS (National League System) steps three to six have reached a consensus that their 2019-20 season will now be brought to an end, and all results will be expunged.

“This will mean no promotion or relegation of clubs between NLS steps three to six, and no promotion to NLS step two.

“These decisions will also apply to the leagues and clubs who play at NLS step seven.”