AFC Fylde's clash with Southend United is called off

Southend were making the journey north on Saturday morning, only for their train to suffer a power failure between stations.

Explaining the situation, a Southend statement said: “The train left London at 10.18am and was due to arrive in Preston at 12.39.

“Avanti West Coast are in the process of organising an ‘evacuation train’ which will take the players back to London.

“It is currently unclear when the evacuation train will arrive and so a decision has been made to postpone the game.

“We apologise to our supporters for the inconvenience caused. For those who are already in Fylde, we have put some money behind the supporters’ bar at the stadium – please have a beer on us.”

A date for the rearranged game is set to be confirmed in due course.

Fylde also announced on Saturday that they had turned down a bid for Taelor O’Kane before the August transfer window closed.

It was claimed Peterborough United had seen an offer rejected for the 19-year-old midfielder, who recently signed a two-year contract extension.

Fylde’s director of football, Alex Hughes, said: “We are pleased to see clubs in higher divisions taking note of our club’s successes.

“Taelor has undoubted potential and we believe he will soon be a regular member of the first team and has a great future ahead of him.

“He remains central to our future plans and the decision to reject the bid by the chairman (David Haythornthwaite) was made without hesitation.”