King’s Lynn Town’s attentions swiftly turned to a clash with Notts County on Tuesday after another soggy Saturday wiped out 90 minutes of football at The Walks.
Less than 90 minutes before kick-off and with covers being taken off the pitch, the game was called off – the covers had hidden watery patches and there were large areas beside the pitch that were under water.
It’s the second home game in a row that has fallen foul of conditions – County’s visit is the rearranged game from Boxing Day.
In the middle of Saturday’s disappointment, Linnets assistant manager Hugo Langton remained realistic.
“Obviously we have prepared all week to play this game as have they, and we have all come here today wanting to play the game but as (manager) Tom (Widdrington) said yesterday, we can’t control what is coming out of the sky,” he said.
“We have done everything that we can to get the game on, with the covers down. I said to someone earlier that everyone has done everything they can – whatever job they do at this football club - this week to get this game on, whether it is preparing the team or preparing the pitch, whatever it is, everyone has done their utmost to get it on.
“Unfortunately, we can’t control what comes out of the sky and the referee made a very quick decision to call it off.
"It’s frustrating as it is, we can’t control it – and it is frustrating because we all want to play.
“Bear in mind when I arrived at the ground the chairman is out on the pitch with his brush and he’s trying to get the water off the pitch – that is how much we wanted the game on today. Obviously Woking wanted to play it as well. We have tried our best, but we can’t control what comes out of the sky.”
Had Saturday’s match gone ahead it may well have put the County game in danger, although Langton said that prospect was never on their minds.
“Possibly, but we couldn’t think of it like that,” he said. “You take each game as it comes and this was the game that was coming up so that is the only game we were thinking about.
“We can’t think about Notts County until we played Woking.
“Now we can start thinking about Notts County, but what happens weather-wise between now and Tuesday I don’t know.
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“It looks to me there is a bit of rain but there is also some time when there isn’t some rain so from our side we will prepare a team to play on Tuesday night and I am sure the people who are in charge of the pitch and the stadium will do their best to make sure the game is on as well, because we want to play football.
“We are not going to be the only team that is going to have to deal with his kind of stuff. You know as seasons go on you get into these winter months when you know games are going to be called off.
“We have a lot of experience and knowledge around the place with us and the staff on how to deal with all this sort of stuff. It happens – I can’t remember a season in the 15 years that I have been involved on this side of football that you haven’t had to deal with this.
“Whether it is something to do with Covid or lockdowns or month’s suspension here and there, you just adapt to it.
“We just keep looking after the players, keep preparing them the best that we can and we just keep trying to put teams out to win games of football. That is what we are here to do and we will do our best to do that.”
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