cron running normally but not executing php file

[Player-n]

I have checked the path variable in the cron.ini file and am certain it points correctly to the php file that I want to execute.

cron.log says Run OK as you would expect but the php was never executed.

I deleted the file while cron was running and it still logged an OK as if everything was perfectly fine.

I even changed the path to a fictitious one which contained no php files and cron still logged OK in its log file.

There is very little information around this issue and not being able to tell what cron is/is not doing is extremely frustrating.

Can anyone shed light on this problem for me?

Thanks in advance.