'I had three players slipping': Burton boss Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink defends decision to raise concerns over pitch before Blackpool postponement

The decision to call off the game was taken by referee Christopher Sarginson barely 10 minutes before kick-off after concerns were raised about a small area of the pitch.

Explaining his decision, Sarginson said the pitch had quickly deteriorated before the scheduled 7pm kick-off.

“I looked at the pitch at 6pm and I was happy,” Sarginson said.

“But since the lights have been taken off, the playing surface has deteriorated so much.

“We’re at the stage now, at 7pm, where there are hard bits on the surface in one half and with two hours before we complete the game at 9pm, there’s no way we’re going to get through.

“The temperature is dropping and it’s only going to harden up and get worse. Player safety has to come into it.”

It is the second time this fixture has been postponed after the Brewers informed the EFL they were unable to fulfil the original date, on January 28, due to a Covid-19 outbreak.

Burton boss Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink looked very animated while he spoke to the officials and Blackpool head coach Neil Critchley on the pitch for a number of minutes.

Blackpool’s chief executive Ben Mansford and secretary Nick Horne were also part of the discussions.

Reacting to the postponement, Burton boss Hasselbaink said: "The players went out for a warm-up and I had three players slipping, one really badly when he couldn't stop.

"The referee was called. I was watching from a distance and he was told that the pitch was really hard and frozen, part of it in one half.

"The referee called me (over), I spoke to a couple of the players and some were not happy with it.

"The referee made the decision not to play because the longer the game would go on, the more the frozen parts would get dangerous.

"We have come here to play, prepared to play, set up to play and it wasn't meant to be.

"The most important thing for me is the safety of my players. If it's not safe to play, then you can't play. The club has spent money on a coach and everything to get here.

"We're coming in after a good result, and we're feeling good, so we wanted to come here and play but the conditions have to be right for both teams.

"I don't think the conditions were right and it's unfortunate but we have to do the right things for our players."

A new date for the game will be confirmed in due course.

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