Award-winning Town groundsman Alan Ferguson said he was gutted after the Blues’ Boxing Day home game against Watford succumbed to the weather. Referee Grant Hegley called the match off at 1.15pm because a small area of frost on the pitch in front of the Cobbold Stand.
Ferguson, who had employed the club’s tent and hot air blower in the days prior to the game, explained what happened to the club site: "We took the covers off at about 11am and the pitch looked fine. But as we got to the east side of the ground [Cobbold Stand], there was a small area of frost.
"What had happened, I think, was that the condensation that had built up froze as we pulled the covers off, with the air in the stadium still at zero.
"We attempted to thaw that small area out by pouring boiling water on to the pitch and then forking it. When you know the soil underneath the frost is OK, you can fork through to it and it softens up.
"It was working and the referee was fine with 95 per cent of the pitch but he wouldn't go beyond 1.15pm and when he looked at it, he made his decision.”
Ferguson says that had he and his staff been given longer they might have resolved the situation: "I think we could have made it but there was no way he was going to shift on the time.
"I know Stuart Attwell [who refereed the Leicester game] got a lot of criticism for playing the game here last week, so perhaps he didn't want to start the game and then have to take another look if the temperatures dropped in the second half.
"I'm gutted that the game didn't take place. I could accept it if it was the whole pitch but it was five per cent."
Tickets for today’s match will be valid for the restaged game with non-season ticket holders who don’t want to attend the rearranged match having until kick-off on the new yet to be set date to obtain a refund.