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Match Abandoned
Match Abandoned
Saturday, 11th Feb 2012 15:54

Town’s home game against Middlesbrough was abandoned after 37 minutes due to a frozen pitch with the score at 0-0.

After two pitch inspections, the temperature having dropped to -13 overnight, referee Dean Whitestone had deemed the surface playable, although Boro were understood to be unhappy with the decision.

Blues boss Paul Jewell had named an unchanged side for the third game running with the bench also the same as at Coventry a week ago.

The Blues started strongly and came close to creating the first opportunity in the fourth minute when a flick from Lee Martin was just taken away from Andy Drury inside the area on the right. On eight, Jay Emmanuel-Thomas crossed from the right and Daryl Murphy headed over.

Town had another chance to go in front on the quarter-hour when Murphy nodded down to Martin, who probably should have shot first time rather than taking a touch which allowed a Middlesbrough foot to take the ball away from him. The resultant corner eventually led to Emmanuel-Thomas hitting a low shot from the edge of the box into the sidenetting.

The Blues went even closer in the 21st minute when Murphy hit the bar. A short corner between Martin and Drury was played to Cresswell, whose cross was diverted into the Irisman’s path by Ibrahima Sonko. Murphy’s 15-yard strike cannoned back to Sonko but the Town skipper was crowded out.

Boro were still to seriously threaten, aside from winning a couple of corners with keeper Jason Steele and his defence not looking overly comfortable in the conditions.

On 32 the Blues were forced into a change when Sonko came off with what appeared to be a stomach muscle injury which had required treatment a few minutes earlier. Damien Delaney took his place with Tommy Smith moving to the right and taking the armband.

In the 37th minute referee Dean Whitestone went to speak to the fourth official, Wayne Porter, who had been spoken to regularly by the Boro management while the game continued, then after several minutes’ discussion decided to abandon the game much to the annoyance of the crowd.

There had been little obvious sign that the pitch had got any worse as the game had progressed, in which case questions should be raised as to why the officials gave the go-ahead for the match to start in the first place.

As they prepared to make the long journey home, the Boro fans sang ‘we want our money back’, and in the circumstances you could see their point.

Town: Lee-Barrett, Edwards, Sonko (c) (Delaney 32), Smith, Cresswell, Drury, Hyam, Martin, Emmanuel-Thomas, Murphy, Chopra. Subs: McCarthy, Leadbitter, Bullard, Scotland.

Middlesbrough: Steele, Hoyte, Hines, Williams (c), Bennett, McMahon, Thomson, Arca, Emnes, Jutkiewicz, Main. Subs: Ripley, Ogbeche, Halliday, Williams, Smallwood. Referee Dean Whitestone (Northampton). Att: 19,735 (Boro: 730).


Photo: Action Images



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SamWhiteUK added 17:48 - Feb 11
And I meant away to home fans, hahaha
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markw added 18:27 - Feb 11
referee you are a JOKE you had 2 chances to call that game off, FA PLEASE SACK THE RETARD
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StochesStotasBlewe added 18:28 - Feb 11
Jordan 550. Statistically, attendences are lower for tuesday evening matches so that argument falls flat. Many regular Town fans live 2 or 3 hours drive away, however, i must say i was impressed by how many "Boro fans made the journey down here today.
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CornardBlue added 18:28 - Feb 11
What a disgrace, no way this game should have been stopped, players were not slipping about.
If it had been on Sky it would have finished, the conditions for the Leicester game last season were far worse, no one that night gave a toss about players getting hurt or worried about supporters travelling home in the snow.
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StochesStotasBlewe added 18:33 - Feb 11
............meant to add also that the several away fans i spoke to afterwards were just as p..sed off with the ref abandonong the game as i was & wanted play to continue & in no way thought our pitch was dangerous.
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townietilidie added 18:35 - Feb 11
Bottom line is ... Game started so game should of finished .... End of
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dugoutdave added 18:39 - Feb 11
Jordan- the problem is that, as an Ipswich supporter, this was a game which we could and would have won and I think that was apparent by the performance during
the time played. Couple that with the fact that you had several first choice players out, were probably tired from Wednesday's game and the distance travelled you can understand why ipswich supporters dont believe any one from your management team is going to be too upset about this decision. If fact watching mogga he was up and complaining from the word go. Regardless of what u think about the pitch and I still think its one of the best the officials should have taken an decision earlier and stuck to it.
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Keaneish added 18:43 - Feb 11
H32 - Mogga was asked by the ref if he was happy to call the game off as was Jewell, thats what happens in these situations. If we had key players out, were off form, had a long game in midweek and were second best for the 37 minutes he likely was delighted he had the opportunity so they're not moronic comments to target Mogga! I dont care if hes a town hero, 3 points were there for the taking today and thats all i care about as well as the money I've lost!! That game could easily have carried on. In all honesty, im amazed Jewell didn't do everything he could to try and keep the game going given the position of Boro in that game!
The game against Leicester was infinitely worse than that last season and that continued.

We're all agreed the game should either have been called off at 11.15 or played once started.
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Fatcatevans added 18:50 - Feb 11
MoscowBluesson - Take your racist filth elsewhere.
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Baillie_Bear added 20:20 - Feb 11
Maybe they were correct to call it off but they could have decided earlier. Alot of people made a long treck to get there.
It is a shame because we might not get another chance to put Boro to the sword.
Another Tuesday night game which will have a 17500 crowd to come.

COYB
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chepstowblue added 20:22 - Feb 11
Tony cottee working for sky had said b4 kick off that he didnt think the game shud start as it was bone hard in places and it appeared a joint decision by the managers that it was called off when it was.There are no conspiracies here,Boro arent scared of us and Town arent trying to make more money out of us,it just happened. To avoid all the school playground bickering on here it should hav been called off friday evening then a lot of contributors on this forum could have got on with their homework instead!
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Keaneish added 23:16 - Feb 11
Chepstowblue - of course boro would rather not have had a fixture today after a game in the week and a depleted squad, no-one commented they were 'scared'.

Sounds like you weren't effected today and didn't see our dominant performance cut short from your home in chepstow watching sky sports news!

And who the hell at any age ever did homework on a Friday night!? Public school boy eh?
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Cheshire_Blue added 12:24 - Feb 12
There is no comparison with last seasons match against Leicester. On that occasion the pitch was soft under the snow and not dangerous. This time the pich was hard,slippery and posed a risk to the players.
The bone of contention has to be the incompetance of the referee. He had doubts at 11.15 and 2.00. The temperature was at or below freezing so it was obvious to everyone (except the referee) that conditions would only get worse.This is incompetance at its worst and this coupled with his failure to explain his decision (which he almost certainly couldn't do) shold result in him be withdrawn from any future games at this level.
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s6blue added 18:22 - Feb 12
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