‘There needs to be an investigation’ – Sky Sports presenter Jeff Stelling slams FC Halifax Town following late Hartlepool United postponement

The match was due to go ahead at 7pm but was called off just over an hour before kick-off due to a frozen pitch.

An inspection at 1pm on Tuesday afternoon was deemed unnecessary by Halifax with the pitch clearly playable. But a forecast drop in temperature caused the surface to quickly freeze in the hours leading up to the planned kick-off.

This fixture has been shrouded in controversy since the originally scheduled match on January 2 was called off early for the same reason.

And this second postponement has undoubtedly added fuel to the fire despite Halifax manager Pete Wild insisting that there was nothing more his club could have done to get the game on.

Following the news of the postponement, Stelling – along with hundreds of Poolies – took to Twitter to voice their dissatisfaction.

“Seriously there needs to be an investigation into events at Halifax Town,” the Sky Sports presenter tweeted.

“Planned pitch inspection for tonight’s re arranged game deemed unnecessary earlier today. Then at 5:45 with our players already arrived, the game is called off. Time, effort and money wasted.”

Pools manager Dave Challinor had no qualms over the decision to postpone the game. But something didn’t quite sit right with Stelling after Halifax called off the earlier pitch inspection without organising another one until after the Pools squad had arrived.

“They chose to call off an inspection that had been arranged earlier in the day presumably because it was like the Costa del bloody Halifax then,” he responded.

"I will give them John Kettley’s number if they want it!”

John Kettley is a weatherman (from Halifax).

But it’s not the first time Pools have had a match called off late this season.

“I know they can’t control weather but surely there could have been an earlier call,” Stelling continued.

"This season we went to Barnet only for the game to be called off late Friday night. And had a game at Eastleigh abandoned at ht (correctly). It’s expensive!”

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