Storm Dennis menaces Horsham's clash with Leatherhead

Horsham manager Dominic Di Paola. Picture by Steve Robards

The Fetcham Grove pitch passed a 10am pitch inspection but, with conditions worsening, the match officials decided to call off the Isthmian Premier Division clash just 45 minutes before the start, due to a waterlogged pitch.

The Horsham manager said: “The frustrating thing is that everyone knew the forecast.

“The refs are in a difficult situation because if we get half an hour into the game and it then has to be abandoned, they get grief, so the decision should have been made at 10am. That would have been a sensible approach.”

However, Di Paola admitted he understood the referee’s reasoning.

He said: “With these things, the refs have got to look at whether they think it will finish, not whether it starts.

“The water was all just sitting on the top because the pitch was in good nick.

“Both the goalmouths had really thick mud and that’s always a concern for referees nowadays because if the ball goes dead in the box and two people go in for a challenge, you run the risk of getting an injury. We aren’t in the sixties, this is the nature of the game that we’re all involved in now.

“If the game had been played, it would have ended up being a lottery because it would have just been a war of attrition, a battle.”

In response to some social media comments made by fans of the home side, Di Paola rubbished claims he didn’t want the game to go ahead.

He continued: “Their management team and fans seemed to take it really personally and I don’t think you can. We don’t want to go up there on a Tuesday night. For us it’s a headache.

“Firstly, we were full strength, secondly, the way we work as a football club is, if the players attend the game, they get paid.

“I would have far rather not had to pay anyone for a wasted journey so of course we wanted the game on.”

He added: “They were desperate to get the game on, maybe because they thought they would get a bigger gate, but to say that we didn’t want to play the game is ridiculous.

“For them, with most of their players relatively local, it’s easy, so we’ve got every interest in getting the game on when we’re full strength. We could play them in three weeks and have a load of injuries.”