Premiership pair fall victim to big freeze

Blackburn’s home Barclays Premiership clash with Sunderland has been postponed due to a frozen pitch.

Referee Phil Dowd deemed the surface at Ewood Park to be unplayable just after 6pm and the match must now be rearranged.

Bolton’s top-flight encounter with Middlesbrough tonight has also been postponed after the undersoil heating at the Reebok Stadium failed and left the pitch frozen.

“The undersoil heating system has failed to work in the central areas of the pitch,” said a Bolton spokesman.

“This area is frozen solid and with temperatures plummeting during the rest of the day, it is unsafe to play the game.”

Twelve fixtures in the Coca-Cola Football League were called off, starting with the noon kick-off in League Two between Chester and Wrexham.

The Championship match between Plymouth and Preston has been postponed, while the evening League One matches between Blackpool and Oldham, Bournemouth and Barnsley, Doncaster and Brentford, Milton Keynes Dons and Nottingham Forest and Swansea and Gillingham League One matches are also off.

In League Two, Boston v Carlisle, Notts County v Northampton, Peterborough v Oxford, Rochdale v Bury and Shrewsbury v Macclesfield succumbed to the cold snap.

Race meetings at Catterick and Newbury were also abandoned.

The afternoon’s Celtic League rugby union match between Llanelli Scarlets and Ospreys was also postponed.