Coasters chairman David Haythornthwaite rejects call-off claims made by opponents Ebbsfleet United
AFC Fylde chairman David Haythornthwaite has reacted robustly to accusations that the Coasters could have postponed their fixture on Saturday sooner.
The National League clash between Fylde and Ebbsfleet United at Mill Farm was called off at just before 2pm by the referee.
That prompted The Fleet’s chairman Damian Irving to question why the match had not been called off earlier, saving he and his team, along with the club’s supporters a wasted journey.
However, Haythornthwaite felt the match could have gone ahead and it was the referee who ultimately decided the pitch was not playable.
He said: “I would not usually comment on another team or the referee.
"Some of the comments which have been made by the chairman of Ebbsfleet I find disturbing to say the least.
"I was really surprised by what he’s said which is in essence that Fylde should have called this game off a lot earlier.
"I find that pretty insulting to us as a club. I think the obligation opf every football club is to try to play, whenever possible, the game.
"This game got called off by the referee. I think it was the wrong decision and we as a club will be putting in a report on that as it could have been played.
"It all boiled down to a two square-metre part of the pitch which he felt was dangerous.
"Ultimately, it was his decision and normally, the referee wold ask the managers’ opinion but the managers’ opinion was not asked by the referee.
“So he made that decision on his own. The game was called off at 1-50pm, now it never rained after that and trust me, at 3pm, we cold have played that game without a doubt.
"Of course, this is always subjective but for Ebbsfleet then to suggest that we knew these storms were coming and that we should have had a pitch inspection.
"It would have made absolutely no difference to Ebbsfleet. They had travelled up overnight.
"You can’t call a game off; apart from it’s a frozen pitch, everybody knows that, on the basis that it maybe flooded the day before.
"We didn’t know it was going to be flooded, and in actual fact it wasn’t flooded, but we didn’t know how it was going to be, nobody knew what was going to happen.”