'Freak and unique' - Crawley Town boss says nothing could be done to change decision on postponing play-off tie with MK Dons

The game between Reds and MK Dons was due to kick off at 3pm on Monday, but a huge overnight downpour continued into the morning and saw big puddles form on the pitch. Referee Ross Royce held an inspection and called the game off at 11.15am.

After discussions between the two clubs, the fixtures were rearranged for tonight at the Broadfield Stadium (Tuesday, May 7, 7.30pm) and Saturday at Stadium MK (May 11, 7.45pm), giving them an extra day between the two legs.

But Lindsey’s Monday was a still a busy one as he had to adjust his side’s schedule for the week but said it was a ‘freak and unique’ situation no one could do anything about and he felt for both the MK Dons teams and fans.

He said: "We have to adjust now but I think we are used to it over the years. It was worse for MK Dons as they travelled down and had to have another night in a hotel. I feel for them for that.

“It’s a situation no one could have predicted, helped or changed. It is what it is for us. All we have done is change what we did yesterday and looked at what today looks like. Then we had to reschedule the rest of the week, because the second leg has changed.

“We are more than happy with it and in actual fact it works out better in many ways because we are playing Tuesday Saturday now rather than Monday Thursday which gives us an extra bit of recovery, which probably works better for everybody.”

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And Lindsey was stunned but the amount of rainfall there was. “It was just freak weather. Actually driving into the car park at the ground was like driving through the Amazon. It was unreal. It was one of those freak occasions where it just came down and never stopped.

“When you have that amount of rain in that period of time the pitch and the drainage can’t cope.”

Some fans vented their frustration at the postponement and criticised the club and there was concern the pitch could still be not fit tonight. But Lindsey said: “The pitch will be great. It was just one of those things. Whatever we had done would not have helped it. I have a heard a few people saying the Brighton Ladies played on it, that had absolutely nothing to do with it. We trained on it the day before and it was fine.

“There’s nothing we could have done differently, it was a freak and unique situation we found ourselves in.

"I know there would have been a lot of frustrated fans from both clubs and I understand that, I really do. Especially the MK fans because they would have been on their way down and I feel for them. But there was nothing that could have been done to change the decision.”

And Lindsey praised Ben Harwood and his ground staff for their efforts. “They have done a great job because there’s been so many games played on there this season with the Brighton Ladies and us as well. We have trained on it all week as well, credit has to go to them. I know they worked really hard to get it on yesterday but they were up against it.”