Brian Caldwell: Shrewsbury Town 'desperate' to play but Ipswich game postponed after late call from officials
Chief executive Brian Caldwell admits Shrewsbury Town were 'desperate' to play their home League One clash with Ipswich Town today but officials made the 11th hour call that parts of the surface were unsafe.
After late inspections officials, who arrived at 11.45am, deemed part of the Montgomery Waters Meadow playing surface unsuitable to play after sub-freezing temperatures.
The surface had, earlier in the day, been passed as playable by the referee, but small sections of the surface hardened closer to kick-off despite temperatures easing slightly.
The decision was confirmed at 2.15pm. Discussions are under way concerning a re-arranged date, which will now be towards the end of the season with no matching free weeks for either side. Town stewards laid tarpaulin across the width of the pitch near the north (away) stand goalline.
The two clubs were in talks about delaying the fixture 24 hours until Sunday with Salop not in action this midweek, while Ipswich are due to host Northampton on Tuesday night.
But, after Ipswich booked out a hotel to stay over in Shropshire on Friday night, issues with sorting accommodation and food meant it was not possible for the Tractor Boys to stay over on Saturday night.
Caldwell said: "The delay was partly because we spoke to Ipswich about playing tomorrow, for them to stay in a hotel again and play tomorrow, which the EFL were happy with.
"But I think through issues of accommodation and food etc tonight, they stayed locally last night, the hotel opened up for them coming in and they brought chefs in to feed them.
"It's short notice for them to sort accommodation and I think they've decided it's best for them to prepare properly for a Tuesday night game towards the end of the season.
"Hopefully by that time the manager is back and we can have him cheering the players on.
"We were desperate for the game to go on today, with the form we're in just now, Ipswich have had a couple of bad defeats just recently, it would've been a good time to play it.
"It's disappointing, we beat Sunderland, but sometimes you just can't beat the weather."
Frost covers had been placed on the Meadow's surface after Tuesday night's win over Sunderland and the pitch looked in good shape on Friday.
But sub-zero temperatures overnight and long into the morning meant patches of the pitch were deemed unsafe at a pitch inspection conducted around 1.30pm, over an hour after the match referee Lee Swabey, from Devon, had deemed the surface OK.
It is the first Shrewsbury home fixture to be postponed since the EFL Trophy semi-final against Yeovil in early 2018 and one of only a couple of fixtures off due to a frozen pitch since Town moved to Oteley Road.
Caldwell said: "We covered the pitch on Tuesday night after the Sunderland game and have done some tread work since then.
"The pitch yesterday was a lot better than it had been on Thursday. I came down at half nine this morning to meet Jon the head groundsman and have a look at it.
"We left the covers on as long as we possibly could, it was -2 this morning even at quarter to 10.
"At that stage I felt the pitch was fine, the old fashioned way of taking a key was fine, so it could take a stud.
"It looked OK at that time, spoke to the referee and said we wanted to keep the covers on as long as possible because of the minus temperature.
"The covers were off at 11am and the referee came at quarter to 12 and went over the pitch and he felt it was playable at quarter to 12.
"There was a slight concern in a couple of areas more firm than others, but bizarrely, between quarter to 12 and half one or two-ish the pitch actually hardened in other areas and got worse despite the temperatures getting better.
"It is very confined areas, over the far side, but we felt for players' safety is was the right thing to do.
"Ninety-five per cent of the pitch is fine, but perhaps five has got worse, which is unusual when the temperature rises.
"It's very difficult, we tried to give everything as much chance as we could, the match referee was very helpful and was quite happy with things.
"He wanted to monitor it before 3am and if there's one benefit of supporters not travelling to games and being behind closed it is giving the game as much chance as possible.
"Because of the temperature and the pitch hardening in small areas sometimes safety has to come first. Some time it is difficult going from soft to hard ground, I get that.
"We have to look after the players, even if it is a very small portion of the pitch."
