‘We’re not messing them about’ – Halifax boss Pete Wild responds to late frozen pitch postponement against Hartlepool United
Halifax Town manager Pete Wild insisted there was nothing that his club could have done to get Tuesday night’s match against Hartlepool United to go ahead as planned.
The match was postponed just over an hour before kick-off at The Shay due to a frozen pitch. The match was initially subject to a 1pm pitch inspection on Tuesday afternoon but this was deemed unnecessary at 9:30am in the morning.
But a forecast sudden drop in temperature caused areas of the pitch to freeze. As a result, the decision was made by the referee to call the game off following a pre-match inspection. Both managers agreed with the decision and the Halifax boss was quick to express his frustration.
"It's frustrating but there's not really anything we can do about it," Wild admitted.
"The pitch was playable throughout the day, and as the day's gone on it's frozen up, and there isn't a lot you can do about that."
After the initially scheduled match at The Shay on January 2 was postponed due to a frozen pitch, Pools fans speculated on social media that Halifax didn’t want the match to go ahead.
Wild responded to the criticism ahead of the rescheduled match and hit back once again after the fixture was postponed for the second time at the last minute.
"We're both frustrated, we're all here, we all want to get on with it, but there's nothing we can do about it,” he commented.
“At least it proves to Hartlepool we're not messing them about like they thought we were last time.”