Not our fault says Vaughan

Chester chairman, Stephen Vaughan, has been talking to the Chester Evening Leader about last Saturday's postponed game.

"The match was lost through no fault of our own and that's why I was bitterly disappointed and frustrated to hear the game called off.

"The match was scheduled for a 12 noon kick-off, but a 3pm kick-off would have given us more time to have tried to save the match.

"I think we would have had a good chance to have saved the match if we had been given that extra time.

"The referee inspected the pitch at 9am on Saturday and told us to remove snow off the frost sheets that had been placed over the pitch.

"But as the sheets were being removed a thaw was taking place and the water from the thaw was seeping through the sheets and flooding the pitch.

"The referee decided to move the kick-off back to 1pm and we then started the process of informing our fans through the radio and television stations.

"We were grateful for all the work carried out by our fans and volunteers on Saturday morning. They cleared the sheets but it proved impossible to keep the pitch dry because of the water from the thaw seeping through.

"The referee then noticed the pitch was unplayable in certain sections and for the sake of everyone concerned he made a decision to postpone the match.

"It just wasn't mean't to be, but the managers and the players were all geared up for the match.

"The Hereford United management and players had stayed in Chester overnight, but there was just no way the game could go ahead.

"We're now just waiting for a new date for the fixture, but we could have done with the match being played because we've now got two games in hand and people are going to start looking at points scored."

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