Hartlepool boss frustrated by Notts County postponement

Pools saw their fixture backlog grow again at the weekend when their League Two trip to Notts County was postponed because of a waterlogged pitch.

Ronnie Moore’s side now have either three, four or five games in hand on the clubs at the bottom end of the division.

Pools were already facing a gruelling schedule - five games this month, seven in both March and April, with the season-finale at Plymouth to end the campaign.

It is too early for news on a re-arranged date for the visit to Notts County but mid-April looks feasible which would give Pools eight fixtures in the final full month of the programme.

Moore was frustrated Pools suffered their fourth postponement of the season because of the weather.

Meadow Lane was waterlogged on Saturday after heavy overnight downpours in Nottingham.

Moore admitted the decision of the referee was inevitable but felt more could have been done to get the match played.

“I came down early in the car with Sam [Collins] when I heard there might be a doubt,” Moore told SportMail.

“When I got on the pitch there was standing water in the goalmouths and centre-circle.

“The ref walks out, tries to bounce a ball, of course it gets stuck so he says ‘there’s no chance’.

“I love coming to Notts County, it’s a great pitch, ground and atmosphere and was looking forward to the match so much.

“The disappointment for me was that more was not done to get the game played.

“Yes, there was water on the surface, but the ground was actually quite firm.

“For me, if the water had been pushed off like you see them do on the golf greens and then the pitch had been forked then you don’t know, do you?

“There might have been a chance.

“The [Notts County] people said that the water drains into the river just outside the ground and the river’s right up.”

Results went the way of Pools on Saturday in the games which went ahead.

Yeovil and Newport had their home matches washed out but the three teams at the bottom of the table who did play all lost.

Dagenham & Redbridge were beaten 1-0 by a late Luke Berry penalty at Cambridge, while York City went down 2-0 at Northampton.

Stevenage, who come to the Vic tomorrow night, saw their winless run extended to eight games when they lost to a Matt Harrold goal as Crawley edged a 1-0 victory at Broadhall Way.