11 January 2003

Boston Match Off

Due to weather conditions not picking up as originally forecasted, Wrexham's Division Three match at Boston was called off because of a frozen pitch at 1:00pm by match referee Phil Prosser.

The pitch was inspected at 8:30 this morning by the referee and with strong sunshine forecasted by the local weather people it was expected that temperatures would increase to 5 degrees Celsius by mid morning.

When Mr Prosser arrived back at York Street around midday the majority of the pitch had thawed but there was one area of the pitch sheltered from the sun by the stand and with the temperatures not reaching the predicted temperature, this area of the pitch was rock solid. Despite the ground staff doing everything possible to get the match on the referee said he had no other alternative to call the game off in the interests of player safety.

Another problem not forecasted by the weather people was freezing fog. This was just setting in after the game had been called off making it impossible to see from one goal to the other. Radio Wales' match reporter Steve James and summariser Dave Phillips, who had arrived at the ground after it had just been called off, confirmed this.

It looks as if the rearranged game will take place next Wednesday, 15 January, with both Boston United and Denis Smith hoping to get the rearranged game sorted out for next week. This is yet to be officially confirmed.

There was some good news today in that Wrexham climbed one place to eleventh despite not playing! This came courtesy of Rushden & Diamonds 2-0 win at Kidderminster Harriers, which means both Harriers and the Red Dragons are tied on 36 points but Wrexham how have a superior goal difference.

Only four games were played today and below is a summary of the action with an updated league table.

 

 

Division Three
Results

Boston United

v

Wrexham

OFF

 

Cambridge United

v

Bournemouth

OFF

 

Carlisle United

v

Lincoln City

OFF

 

Hull City

Elliott 61' 67'

2-2

Exeter City

Partridge 68'

Flack 90'

Power Sent Off 90'

 13,667

 

Kidderminster Harriers

0-2

Rushden & Diamonds

Hall 15' 69'

3,417

 

Macclesfield Town

v

Hartlepool United

OFF

 

Oxford United

v

Darlington

OFF

Now Tue

Rochdale

v

Bristol Rovers

OFF

 

Scunthorpe United

Sparrow 27'

Kilford 67'

2-1

Leyton Orient

Smith 39'

3,242

 

Shrewsbury Town

v

Southend United

OFF

 

Swansea City

v

Bury

OFF

 Now Tue

Torquay United

Gritton 6' 21'

Bedeau 24'

3-1

York City

Duffield 5' (p)

2,663

 

League Table

 
Pos Team                   P  W  D  L   F   A   GD Pts
------------------------------------------------------
 1  Hartlepool United     26 16  5  5  42  28   14  53
 2  Rushden and Diamonds  27 14  9  4  42  24   18  51
 3  Scunthorpe United     26 11  8  7  38  30    8  41
------------------------------------------------------
 4  Torquay United        25 11  8  6  43  41    2  41
 5  Bury                  25 11  8  6  35  33    2  41
 6  Oxford United         23 11  6  6  29  18   11  39
 7  AFC Bournemouth       24 10  9  5  31  29    2  39
------------------------------------------------------
 8  Cambridge United      24 11  5  8  43  36    7  38
 9  Hull City             27  8 13  6  33  25    8  37
10  York City             26 10  7  9  30  34   -4  37
11  Wrexham               24  9  9  6  38  32    6  36
12  Kidderminster         24  9  9  6  33  28    5  36
13  Lincoln City          25  9  9  7  26  22    4  36
14  Leyton Orient         25  9  5 11  29  30   -1  32
15  Rochdale              24  7  9  8  38  37    1  30
16  Darlington            24  6 11  7  30  30    0  29
17  Southend United       25  9  2 14  26  33   -7  29
18  Shrewsbury Town       24  7  7 10  36  47  -11  28
19  Macclesfield Town     25  7  5 13  31  36   -5  26
 20  Boston United         26  7  6 13  32  39   -7  23*
21  Carlisle United       26  6  5 15  28  45  -17  23
22  Exeter City           24  5  7 12  28  38  -10  22
------------------------------------------------------
23  Bristol Rovers        25  5  6 14  27  37  -10  21
 24  Swansea City          24  4  6 14  20  36  -16  18
*Boston deducted four points