A football club has been charged with failing to control its supporters after a player was allegedly racially abused by a fan.

The incident is claimed to have taken place during a Thurlow Nunn League Division One Knockout Cup game between Halstead Town and Braintree Town Reserves at Halstead’s Rosemary Lane ground last month.

Braintree claimed one of their players was subjected to racially-motivated comments from a member of the crowd.

He has not played since.

A formal complaint was lodged with the Essex FA, which confirmed it had received “anecdotal reports of racist behaviour at the game” and said the case would be assessed in accordance with set disciplinary procedures once written statements were received.

A spokesman said Halstead Town have now been charged with a breach of FA rule E20 - failure to control spectators and/or supporters.

He added that the charge also made reference to the fact the incident was “of a discriminatory nature”.

As well as the county FA’s probe, Halstead Town also launched its own internal investigation and chairman Jim Holder said no evidence was found of any racist remarks being made.