'I knew at 12.30pm we were wasting our time' - Frustrated Crawley Town boss Scott Lindsey gives his take on wasted trip to Peterborough for EFL Trophy game

After two pitch inspections at 12.30pm and 2.30pm, the pitch was deemed playable. But once everyone had made the trip Cambridgeshire, the match referee postponed the Bristol Street Motors Trophy fixture with Crawley Town due to a frozen pitch. It was 6.26pm by the time the postponement was announced on social media – leaving the fans and the club angry and frustrated.

Peterborough United issued a statement that said: “The football club requested a pitch inspection at 12.30pm due to our concerns over the playing surface and the EFL arranged for an official to come down to the Weston Homes Stadium to inspect the pitch.

"That official communicated his findings with the EFL who requested another pitch inspection at 2.30pm. The same official inspected the pitch at 2.30pm and deemed the pitch playable. The match referee, on arrival at the Weston Homes Stadium, then expressed his concerns and made the decision to call the game off.”

Lindsey said Peterborough and manager Darren Ferguson were ‘brilliant’ when they arrived, but they spent no more than 15 minutes at the club before embarking on their journey back. And Lindsey knew it was a waste of time and it has disrupted his preparation for Saturday’s game.

He said: “At 12.30pm the referee goes to Peterborough United and deemed the surface would not be playable. The EFL then said ‘it’s probably too early to call it off let’s give it every chance’.

“As far as I am concerned, it usual gets colder at night than it does in the daytime. So if it’s not playable at 12.34pm, who in their right mind thinks it’s going to be playable at 7.30pm at night?

“Speaking from a football point of view, my players have sat on a coach for five hours and I knew when I set off from my house at 12.30pm, I knew that I was wasting my time and effort and I knew that my players were going to sit on a coach for five hours for nothing.”

Lindsey explained what happened when he arrived at the ground. “I walked on the pitch with Darren Ferguson and the referee. Peterborough United were absolutely brilliant and Darren Ferguson was brilliant throughout the whole thing. The matchday referee was sensible. He asked me what I thought and I said, ‘well I’m here, I want to play but it’s clearly not playable’.

“This should have been called off at 12.30pm when it was deemed unplayable then. Darren Ferguson was of the same mindset, as was the staff at Peterborough, who were brilliant. Everybody was so frustrated the EFL made us do that. It’s freezing temperatures and you are getting people to travel for no reason."

And now Lindsey has a game at against Salford City on Saturday, which has been disrupted by yesterday’s events. “I have had to give them time away from the training ground today. They had been in Monday and Tuesday, travelled Wednesday for nothing, now my preparation for Saturday has been disrupted.

“I have been on this planet for 51 years now and every time it is cold during the day, it gets colder at night. That’s never changed. What they were thinking I just don’t know. It’s just so unfair for everyone involved, especially the fans.”

The game has been rearranged for Tuesday, January 23.