ANOTHER glimmer of hope has faded for Ilkeston Town FC as they were told their next game could not go ahead.

The club has been wound up after failing to pay off debts of £50,000 to HM Customs and Excise.

The Football Conference has now confirmed tomorrow's match against Redditch will not take place.

The Official Receivers' officer will not permit a game to go ahead when a club is being wound up.

Ilkeston Town manager Kevin Wilson still hopes the winding-up order can be reversed. And he believes owner Gary Hodder is in talks with potential buyers to save the club.

Wilson cancelled training with his first-team squad last night, but still met his players at the New Manor Ground.

"There was no point in training but I still wanted to meet the players face-to-face to let them know what was going on," he said.

"I just cannot understand why it has come to this but I have still not given up hope we can keep going."

Dennis Strudwick, of the Football Conference, stressed the game could still be played at a later date. "We don't want to kill off a club if there is some hope that the winding-up decision is rescinded," he said.

But the postponement was another blow to fans.

Web administrator for Ilkeston Town FC website and season ticket holder Lee Francis, 26, said: "The news the club was going to be wound up came as such a shock because the chairman had reassured everyone that everything would be all right.

"Clearly this is not the case. An appeal is going to cost so much money and the whole reason this has happened is because we didn't have any money in the first place.

"Any attempt at appealing would just be prolonging the agony."

But fan Tyler Reynolds, 19, from Ilkeston, said the club deserved another chance.

"Other football clubs have had millions of pounds of debt in the past and they've been let off," he said. "I feel really sad the club won't be able to play on Saturday, and think there has to be an appeal against the decision to wind it up."

Councillors have raised concerns about what it means for the town.

Councillor Louis Booth said: "Ilkeston town is already struggling with closures of leisure centres and so the football club is really a facility that is well-used and needed.

"Its closure is another nail in the coffin of Ilkeston. Hopefully someone will come forward quickly because it's such a big part of the community."

As a result of the winding-up order made in the High Court on Wednesday, the Official Receiver for Leicester, Beverley Ashby, has been appointed liquidator of the company.

She said she must identify the club's assets and liabilities, and the reasons for its insolvency. "There is still a hope it could be sold, possibly as a going concern," she said.

However, she said no offers for the club, which leases the ground from Erewash Borough Council, had been received.