Foul weather foils Fylde’s planning

The Coasters were left frustrated by the postponement of Saturday’s first-round tie at Kellamergh Park due to awful weather.

Despite relentless work from groundstaff, Fylde were forced to call the match off after a lunchtime pitch inspection.

Challinor said: “There was no chance the game could go ahead unfortunately. There was standing water all over the pitch.

“It is very frustrating, but when that volume of rain comes down in such a short space of time there isn’t a whole lot you can do about it.

“When you see Football League games also being called off, like Fleetwood just around the corner from us, then you just have to accept it.

“Any pitch would have struggled to cope with what we faced on Saturday. It is difficult because you make plans and preparations for the next game all go out of the window.

“It is disruptive when we have such an important league game coming up at the weekend, but we will have to deal with this type of situation.

“We now have to decide whether we train on Monday night before the game or leave it until Wednesday and Thursday leading up to the Solihull Moors match.

“We may alter the team we put out against Skelmersdale.

“We just need sit down and draw up a new plan of action because the two games are much closer together now.

“We have been quite lucky in the past – I’ve been at Fylde for four years and I can probably count on one hand the number of games called off.

“Our pitch is in fantastic condition – it was simply the amount of rain that made it impossible.

“It didn’t let up after the game had been called off, so it was the right decision. Our surface is probably better than most at dealing with the elements but this was freak weather.”

Eight other Trophy ties were called off on Saturday, which will mean plenty of either-ors in today’s draw for the second round to be played on January 16.

DANIEL AGNEW