Southend United's reserve team boss Steve Tilson admitted he was stunned by the late postponement of last night's Essex Senior Cup quarter-final at Conference League Dagenham and Redbridge.
With fans already inside the Daggers' ground and the players warming up on the Victoria Road pitch, the referee surprised everybody by calling off the match at 7.10pm, just 35 minutes before kick-off.
And a disappointed Tilson said: "I couldn't believe it and I feel sorry for our fans who have made the trip only to be turned away.
"But what could we do? I was out on the pitch warming up with the players and the referee has called off the match half-an-hour before kick-off.
"Both of the goalmouths were frozen solid -- they were as hard as concrete --and I couldn't believe no action hadn't been taken before then.
"The referee should have carried out a pitch inspection at 4pm, which could have saved everybody a lot of time and effort.
"But he claimed the conditions had only deteriorated during the hour leading up to kick-off, although I'm sure a decision could have been made a lot earlier.
"Even more astonishing was the fact that the referee offered me and Dagenham manager Garry Hill the chance to start the game and see how things went for the first 20 minutes.
"But that was never an option as the playing conditions were far too dangerous and we had to think about protecting our players."
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Published Wednesday, January 8, 2003
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