Colchester United's hopes of staging the last Nationwide League match of the millennium were ruined when the match was postponed because of a frozen pitch.

Match referee Keith Hill made the decision to postpone the clash with Wycombe Wanderers at around 5.30pm on Wednesday afternoon.

Hill inspected the pitch at 4.45pm and was concerned about areas of it under the main stand and in one of the goalmouths.

A decision was made to inspect again at 6pm - but with conditions deteriorating rapidly, the match was called off half an hour before that.

Staff at Layer Road then launched a huge operation to try and inform fans of the situation, speaking to local radio stations and national news giants such as Sky, Teletext and the Press Agency.

But still some had to be turned away at the gates disappointed after not hearing of the cancellation.

Brian Wheeler, U's commercial manager, said: "It's unfortunate and we are obviously disappointed for the fans and apologise to them.

"We are gutted because such a lot of work goes into preparing for matches and we were expecting possibly our best crowd of the season, between 4,500 and 5,000.

"People said we should have postponed it at lunchtime but it was playable then and after the first inspection it was probably okay with a bit of work.

"But it was dependent on the weather which was obviously getting worse - the one thing the referee didn't want to do was start the game and then have to abandon it."

The match now looks set to be rescheduled for January 18, subject to confirmation from Wycombe.

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