Weather hits Cup programme

The FA Cup is feeling the force of the winter freeze with three of today’s third-round ties falling victim to the weather.

The matches between Bristol City and Cardiff, Accrington Stanley and Gillingham, and Brentford and Doncaster are all off following pitch inspections this morning.

Despite getting the go-ahead earlier on, Falkirk's pitch failed a second inspection, forcing the postponement of their Clydesdale Bank Premier League clash with St Johnstone.

That left St Mirren v Kilmarnock and Dundee United's match with Aberdeen as the only SPL fixtures to go ahead as the Tannadice pitch passed a 2pm inspection.

Bristol City’s was the first to go due to a frozen pitch at Ashton Gate.

“The groundstaff have made a great effort to get the game on,” said referee Peter Walton.

“Three-quarters of the pitch is totally playable, but unfortunately at the top (East) end where the sun doesn’t get to it, the ground is very hard.

“In terms of safety and finishing the game, perhaps the game could become a lottery at times in that particular area. I wasn’t prepared to gamble and for that reason I’ve called the game off.”

As the clubs failed to agree on a new date for the game in the coming week, it will now be played on the scheduled replay date, January 12.

Accrington were forced to call their game off as snow continued to fall at the Fraser Eagle Stadium throughout the morning.

Around four inches fell in the 90 minutes leading up to a planned 10am pitch inspection.

No date has yet been announced for the re-arranged game – nor for that between Brentford and Doncaster, which became the third FA Cup tie to fall late in the morning.

Scunthorpe’s third-round tie with Barnsley got the go-ahead at Glanford Park this morning after overnight temperatures did not dip as far as expected.

In League One, the efforts of groundstaff at Walsall were not enough as the game against Charlton was added to the list of postponements.

Work began at the Bescot Stadium at 5am in an effort to get the game on, but the playing conditions were deemed unsafe.

Earlier, the fixture between Leyton Orient and Yeovil was called off because of a frozen pitch following an 8am inspection.

In League Two, leaders Rochdale this morning called off their match against Rotherham on safety grounds due to treacherous conditions around Spotland. The decision came before a scheduled pitch inspection at 10.30am.

Also off are the League Two meetings between Darlington and Port Vale, Hereford and Crewe and, after a pitch inspection this morning, Macclesfield and Morecambe.

However, the match between Chesterfield and Shrewsbury will go ahead after the pitch at Saltergate passed two inspections this morning.

Scotland has once again suffered the worst of the weather, with today’s Clydesdale Bank Premier League match between Motherwell and Hamilton being called off yesterday due to burst pipes at Fir Park.

Dundee United’s meeting with Aberdeen also goes ahead as planned after Tannadice and its surrounding areas passed an early morning police safety inspection.

St Mirren expect their game against Kilmarnock to take place as well, providing weather conditions do not deteriorate before kick-off.

However, Dunfermline against Raith Rovers was the last of five First Division clashes to be called off, while all five matches in the Second Division and all five in the Third Division are off.

The games between Berwick and Livingston and Queen’s Park and Albion Rovers were the last to go this morning, despite confident noises from Queen’s Park earlier this morning that their game would go ahead.

At the races, Cork’s National Hunt meeting this afternoon goes ahead after passing an 8am inspection.

Officials called the early-morning check following the forecast of a severe overnight frost, but were able to give the all-clear after the course was found fit for racing.

Sandown underwent two inspections this morning, the second at 10am, before the decision was made to abandon the high-class jumps card scheduled for the afternoon.

Today’s card at Lingfield, like that at Southwell, will go ahead on the all-weather surface.

However, there will be an inspection at Lingfield tomorrow ahead of Monday’s jumps card.

Tomorrow’s meeting in Ireland at Naas has been called off, while Monday’s meeting at Wetherby will be the subject of an inspection tomorrow morning.

Hexham announced a Monday inspection for Wednesday’s meeting as heavy snow continued to fall on the course.