Former Blue Fabian Wilnis has expressed his shock that the final game of his professional career is face claims that it was fixed. Yesterday, bookies revealed suspicious betting patterns in the Grays Athletic-Forest Green Rovers game and their intention to report it to the FA.

Wilnis says he had no suspicions regarding the match, which saw his Grays side win 2-1 having been behind at the break: "I was shocked to hear about the betting. It seemed like a normal game to me, although nothing was riding on it in terms of relegation or promotion, so it had a friendly feel about it.

"But it never felt as if anyone was deliberately not trying or anything like that. In my entire career I have never seen anyone trying to fix a match I was playing in and I'm quite shocked and angry at the thought of someone doing that.”

The Grays crowd was swelled by Town supporters who had travelled to Essex to see the Dutchman play his final game.

Meanwhile, it's reported that Town have abandoned pre-season plans to go to Austria and Germany now that Roy Keane has taken over as manager. The Blues are now expected to go to Keane's native Republic of Ireland, where he took his Sunderland squad during his time as boss at the Stadium of Light.

The only pre-season match set so far is Wilnis's testimonial at Portman Road on Saturday 25th July.

Meanwhile, former Blue Wayne Brown has signed a two-year deal with newly promoted Leicester City. Brown, 32, has been on loan with the Foxes from Hull City.

Ex-Town full-back Michael Synnott, released by the Blues at the end of last season, made his first appearance for new club Dundalk in a 1-0 win at Derry last Friday. Also now at Dundalk is former Town midfielder George O'Callaghan.

Photo: Action Images

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