SOUTHS will be missing Nathaniel Skliros for Thursday's controversial replay, which will go ahead to decide this weekend's Hunter Coast Premier Hockey League grand finalist after Norths' appeal was dismissed last night.
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Skliros took an early guilty plea and was suspended for one match after being red carded in Sunday's original semi-final, which was called off with scores between the rival clubs locked at 3-all.
It means, if Souths overcome Norths in the midweek encounter and reach the 2020 title showdown, he would be free to return against undefeated Gosford at Newcastle International Hockey Centre on Sunday.
HCPHL's independent panel convened on Wednesday night and after more than two hours decided to dismiss Norths' counter appeal, which centred around maintaining the initial ruling and keeping a spot in an 11th straight grand final despite no result being recorded from the game.
Norths had been awarded the win after Souths were reduced to six players approaching the second period of golden goal extra-time, which uses a drop off system, and not allowed to continue.
HCPHL chairman John Mayers later admitted this was an "error" from the technical officials at the time with by-laws relating to a minimum number of seven players required to start a match but no stipulation about how many is needed to complete it.
Play in the knockout affair could have kept going for another six minutes with a penalty shootout to follow if scores stayed level at full-time.
Norths and Souths finished the regular season in equal second on the same amount of competition points, but the Blues had a better goal difference. However, there is no provision for the higher-placed team to progress.
Souths lodged an appeal on Sunday night.
Delegates from the remaining HCPHL clubs - Gosford, University and Wests - deliberated on Monday and ruled that a full replay of the semi-final should take place rather than simply picking up where the game left off.
Norths lodged an appeal on Tuesday but last night's hearing supported the first decision, meaning the fixture will go ahead tonight (7:30pm).
The grand final remains set for 3pm on Sunday with HCPHL officials reluctant to reschedule the decider because of Sydney play-offs taking place the following weekend (October 24).
This means players from either Norths or Souths will have less than 72 hours to recover before backing up to meet minor premiers and three-time defending champions Gosford.
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Josh Callinan
My name is Josh Callinan and I'm a sports journalist at the Newcastle Herald. I started with the newspaper in 2016 after a decade at the Maitland Mercury.
My name is Josh Callinan and I'm a sports journalist at the Newcastle Herald. I started with the newspaper in 2016 after a decade at the Maitland Mercury.
