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AFC Fylde

Notts County report AFC Fylde to the league over late postponement of match

Notts County have reported AFC Fylde to the National League following the late match postponement on Tuesday evening.

There was two days of non stop rain at the Lancashire side, yet with that in mind, a pitch inspection wasn’t carried out until 5:30pm, with many Magpies fans already at, or nearly at the ground.

A referee turned up and immediately deemed the pitch unplayable, leaving the staff and fans of Notts County questioning why the decision wasn’t made much earlier.

Fylde already admitted weeks before that their playing surface weren’t up to scratch due to it being ‘purposely sabotaged’.

The club also claim the pitch suitable to be played on at 2pm Tuesday, with no inspection planned, though that changed due to the next sudden downpour, though when a check was announced on their website, they admitted “it did not look good”.

Magpies’ chief executive, Jason Turner, said: “I’d like to empathise with our supporters who booked time off work and made the journey to Fylde, only for the fixture to be postponed at late notice.

“I, like many, had arrived in Fylde before the decision was made and, having seen the pitch myself, I don’t understand why this decision could not have been made earlier in the day.

“The first we heard of the 5.30pm pitch inspection – and the subsequent confirmation that the match had been postponed – was via Fylde’s Twitter account, which gave us little opportunity to notify our supporters of the latest developments.

“I have expressed my frustrations to the National League over what I believe was an entirely avoidable sequence of events and we await their response.”

The away side’s players were doing pre-match preparations at a nearby hotel, but after learning that the game was called off, it forced the manager to change his plans and take another look and move things around on his training schedule, prior to the weekend’s match against Chesterfield.

It was always going to be a doubt that the game was going to go ahead, with the arrival of Storm Brendan, which had already called off Tranmere Rovers’ FA Cup clash against Watford along with a huge number of non league fixtures postponed across the country.

Though saying that, Blackpool’s FA Cup replay against Reading went ahead just a few miles down the road.

Before Tuesday’s match, Fylde boss Jim Bentley was quoted as saying: “The pitch is shot, which is disappointing because we have a lot of talented footballers and we want to play the right way. The more the pitch cuts up, the more difficult that becomes.

“It’s going from green to brown at the minute, unfortunately, because of the rain and the football that’s been played on it. The groundsman’s got a job on his hands.”

TWITTER REACTION:

@ian_loughton: I feel bloody sorry for notts county supporters

@how45134: Not what your club said 2 and a half hours ago. ” no pitch inspection planned” TIN POT CLUB. Get your house in order.

@walmsley_steven: Tinpot.

@LandyLandy_: Who do I send my refund claim to?

@Squireofthegate: Annoying when its a late postponement(especially for those travelling far), if its called off late we’ll say ‘should have called it off earlier’, if its called off early we’ll say ‘why not leave it until as late as possible’. Suspect the heavy downpour at 4pm did the damage.

@seasider_: Game is on at Blackpool tonight. Perfect conditions apparently.

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