Barrow AFC were left furious after their supporters were accused by an opposition club of sending death threats following the controversial postponement of their match.

Emotions were running high after the Bluebirds’ game against Dover Athletic at Holker Street last Saturday was called off due to the Kent outfit being unable to make it to Barrow because of major disruption on the rail network. Unfortunately, this was caused by a fatality on the line near Milton Keynes, which caused services from London Euston to be either severely delayed or cancelled completely.

The match was officially postponed just over an hour before it was originally due to kick off, but it was several hours later that some serious allegations were levelled against AFC.

In a statement, Dover Athletic said: “We are shocked and disappointed with the response from Barrow AFC and some of their supporters.

“Given the nature of today’s delay, we are disgusted to receive messages wishing death to our players and staff from Barrow supporters on Twitter. We are further shocked to hear about abuse directed by Barrow officials towards both our kit manager and supporters club driver.”

Barrow AFC has denied any knowledge of these incidents taking place and feel Dover are trying to deflect attention from some questionable travel arrangements.

However, Dover midfielder Anthony Jeffrey posted on Twitter a screenshot of a direct message he was sent by one user, which wished the team’s train to crash.

What has baffled the Bluebirds, though, is why Dover chose to board the last train possible that would have got them to Barrow on time, as it left them with no margin for error on what is their longest away journey of the season.

AFC were expecting a bumper crowd of more than 3,000 for the match, which fell on the annual Non-League Day, and their fans were left extremely disappointed that they were prevented from watching their team.

Supporter Jeff Cook said: “Such terrible news that someone felt the need to end their own life and football is irrelevant in them circumstances.

“However, this shouldn’t be used to not review circumstances in which a game should have gone ahead had it not been for the stupidity of the opposition.”

While Dover’s players and staff never made it to the ground, a hardy bunch of their supporters did, after leaving for south Cumbria by coach earlier in the morning.

Barrow AFC manager Ian Evatt said: “There has been a tragedy, someone has lost their life and we have to respect that.

“These things can happen and when you leave at 9.30 in the morning for Barrow versus Dover, you are asking for trouble.

“I just feel so sorry for both sets of fans, to be honest, because the Dover fans are here. They left at 4 o’clock this morning to get here and they should be applauded for that. I do hope that they get their costs returned to them and also our costs should be returned to us because a hell of a lot of hard work went into setting today up.”

Former Mayor of Barrow Tony Callister, who works for the Lancashire FA, said: “As much as I am disappointed for Barrow AFC and the postponement of today’s fixture, it is important to understand the reasons behind the cancellation.”