Three matches that were replayed as decision made over Grimsby vs Man Utd rule breach

One of Grimsby Town's most historic nights was thrown into jeopardy after they fielded an ineligible player. The Mariners took on Premier League giants Manchester United at home in the Carabao Cup second round last month.

In a stunning turn of events, Grimsby clinched a 12-11 victory on penalties over Ruben Amorim's Red Devils, having initially squandered their 2-0 lead late in the game. A pitch invasion and scenes of sheer joy followed - but the League Two side later admitted to a massive error in fielding Clarke Oduor, a new signing who hadn't been registered in time. Grimsby reported their own blunder, attributing it to an administrative mistake. Despite Oduor actually missing his penalty in the shootout, there were demands for the underdogs to be kicked out of the tournament, or for a replay to at least take place. However, neither of those will be considered, with the club instead being slapped with a £20,000 fine by the EFL. They might count themselves lucky, as we now take a look at rare instances in the past where matches have been replayed under controversial circumstances.

Charlton Athletic vs Doncaster Rovers

In August 2013, Charlton's match against Doncaster at The Valley was controversially abandoned at half-time due to a waterlogged pitch, despite Rovers leading 3-1. The torrential rain made conditions challenging from the outset and referee Lee Collins initially stopped play after 26 minutes.

He resumed play but Collins later declared the conditions unsafe during the half-time break, with Doncaster manager Paul Dickov describing the way the match was called off as "shambolic."

To add further insult to injury, the rematch in November began with the score at 0-0, with Charlton going on to win that game 2-0, much to Dickov's frustration as his team dropped to 20th position in the league.

Arsenal vs Sheffield United

In February 1999, Sheffield United faced Arsenal in the FA Cup fifth round at Highbury and, with the match balanced at 1-1 following Patrick Vieira's strike and Marcelo's leveller for the Blades, the fixture descended into mayhem. United keeper Alan Kelly kicked the ball into touch for a throw-in to allow injured teammate Lee Morris to receive medical attention.

The visiting team expected Arsenal to give the ball back to them after the restart, which is what Ray Parlour planned to do, but debutant Nwankwo Kanu had different ideas. The Nigerian forward cut out the pass back to the Blades and set up Marc Overmars to grab the winner.

It sparked outrage among Steve Bruce's side, who ordered his players to walk off the pitch in protest. Injustice raged on in the aftermath before manager Arsene Wenger offered United a rematch, which they accepted. Arsenal won the repeated fixture courtesy of goals from Overmars and Dennis Bergkamp.

Senegal vs South Africa

On November 10, 2017, Senegal became the third African nation to qualify for the 2018 World Cup by beating South Africa 2-0, eliminating Bafana Bafana. The game, however, was merely a replay of the original November 2016 fixture that had been won 2-1 by South Africa.

That result was later chalked off by FIFA after Ghana referee Joseph Lamptey was found guilty of manipulating the result. Lamptey had controversially awarded a spot-kick for a non-existent handball against Senegal's Kalidou Koulibaly, despite replays clearly showing the ball had hit his knee instead.

South Africa converted the penalty and secured victory in what was their only win in that final qualifying phase. FIFA found Lamptey guilty of breaching the rule relating to "unlawfully influencing match results."

The governing body also concluded that Lamptey was at fault for South Africa's second goal just two minutes later, stating that the Ghanaian "clearly took two wrong decisions, which led to two goals being scored by South Africa."

They added: "He [took] intentional decisions with the sole purpose of facilitating a minimum number of goals to make certain bets successful." The incident resulted in Lamptey receiving a lifetime ban from the sport.