Neil Critchley reacts to Blackpool's game against Burton Albion being called off at the last minute

The decision 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, Critchley said: "Obviously it's disappointing, especially with it being so close to kick-off.

"We had prepared, we'd done our warm-up and the players had come off the pitch.

"But unfortunately the pitch had deteriorated in the last hour and the referee, having looked at different areas of the pitch, thought it was unplayable.

"He thought the safety of the players would be at risk. He spoke to both managers and that's the call he took.

"It's not ideal, obviously. We're disappointed the game is off because we had prepared to play, but we have to go with the referee's decision."

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

Thanks for reading. If you value what we do and are able to support us, a digital subscription is just £1 for your first month. Try us today by clicking here