HAY St Marys Football Club have withdrawn from the MMP-NL Mid Wales League with immediate effect.

The first division club announced its decision on Wednesday evening, citing alack of committed players.

A club spokesman said: "Due to lack of players willing to commit to travel and having struggled with numbers from day one the club have had to make the decision to pull our first team out of their league."

The selection crisis deepened to the extent manager Gareth Jenkins was forced out of retirement earlier in the season.

Jenkins has since stepped down after six years at the helm at Forest Road.

"Geographically we are in a very poor position, we had hoped to see the season through and then be moved south in the new structure," added the spokesman.

The club cited the doubts over promotion which dragged on well into the summer and produced a "split camp."

The club's promotion to the first division was also confirmed just before the start of the season and too late for several players who had already left for new clubs.

"The club would like to sincerely apologise to all the clubs affected by this, believe me we tried everything this last month.

"We were let down by players leaving who had promised to re-sign this season, that also didn’t help.

"The club would also like to apologise to Phil Woosnam and the rest of the league committee."

The club insisted it would bounce back and would compete in the Watson Financial Mid Wales League South this season.

"The club will now start the rebuilding process with a very young side. Our facilities are second to none after a lot of hard work over the last five years."