Tranmere left to fume over Colchester cancellation

Jan 5 2009 by Nick Hilton, Liverpool Daily Post

TRANMERE manager Ronnie Moore was asking “why no cover-up?” after Saturday’s League One game at Colchester United was called off a little more than one hour before kick-off.

Referee Gavin Ward postponed the game because an area of the pitch in the shadow of the south stand at the new Colchester Community Stadium was frozen just below the surface following an overnight frost.

Moore and his team would have been prepared to play. Colchester manager Paul Lambert was reluctant.

But while Rovers were willing to accept the decision of Surrey official Ward to put the players’ safety first, Moore was critical of Colchester for their failure to protect the pitch with a cover.

Moore said: “The disappointing thing is the pitch was not covered.

“I came to the ground with the backroom staff at 10am to put the kit out and the only covers on the pitch were in one penalty area.

“The ground is in perfect condition and someone should be held accountable for not putting covers on it. It caused a problem for everyone.

“Colchester should look at themselves for not preparing right.”

Colchester did not invest in a full pitch covering for their new £14million home ground, built and owned by the local authority, which opened at the start of the season.

Tranmere have a pitch cover to protect the playing surface at Prenton Park to a temperature of -5°C.

Moore said his sympathies lay with the travelling Tranmere supporters who began their journey from Prenton Park at 7am.

The Tranmere players and staff stayed overnight at a hotel near Colchester.

Moore added: “We were gutted about the game being called off.

“When we arrived at 10am there was frost in the ground but the groundsman said it would be okay by 1pm.

“There was only a 20-yard area where it was hard by that time.

“Our players wanted to play. We were willing to give it a go. I said to the referee that I would like to play.

“Their manager did not want to play so it was a decision made by the referee.

“It is a nightmare for our supporters who had to travel a long way and started their journey at seven in the morning. For them to be told at a quarter to two that the game is off is unacceptable.”

Referee Ward arrived at the ground in time to make a noon inspection.

Ward said: “The overriding issue was players’ safety.

“Half of the pitch was most certainly playable but in an area of the other half it was hard and frozen underneath.

“In my opinion the game could not have been started, let alone finished.

“As far as we are concerned it is always players’ safety that comes into account.”

Ward said he had been informed by the groundsman that the pitch had thawed out after cold overnight weather earlier in the week and was playable at 3pm.

Ward added: “I worked with that local information when I looked at the pitch at noon.

“The groundsman asked me for another hour. Half of the pitch thawed out, the other half did not.”

Ward said he had asked for representatives of both clubs to be at the ground when he made his last inspection.

Tranmere’s frustration at the chain of events was made no better by the sight of the Colchester players beginning a training session on the pitch half an hour after the game was called off.

Colchester chief executive Steve Bradshaw said the club had done “everything it could” in the circumstances and pointed out there were a number of late postponements on Saturday afternoon.

He said the cost of installing undersoil heating at the Community Stadium was prohibitive.

He added: “Maybe we could have invested £100,000 on putting covers all over the pitch but they are only good up to -4° and it was colder than that overnight.

“We will investigate how (the postponement) happened and if there are any lessons to learn we will apply them in the future.”