Mansfield Town boss Nigel Clough ‘unbelievably disappointed’ after home clash with Accrington Stanley suffers late postponement

Stags were desperate to play and get Friday's 2-0 defeat at promotion rivals out of their system in front of a big Bank Holiday crowd.

But the referee found an unplayable area in front of the Ian Greaves Stand and Stags must now wait until Saturday when they host Crawley Town to resume their promotion push.

“It was unbelievably disappointing. We were so looking forward to it this afternoon,” said Clough.

“We are devastated – we needed the game and Accrington have come ready to play as well

“I had arrived at the normal time and the referee asked if I would go down for a chat.

“He said he wasn't told of anything being an issue but he'd arrived and found parts of the pitch that he didn't think were playable.

“He said all he could do was give it 10-15 minutes to see if we could get the water off.

“It was totally his decision and we have to go with that.

“He has issues like player safety to think of and things like that. There was nothing else in his mind and we accept his decision.”

Clough continued: “It was just an area in front of the main stand which was his only concern.

“He said the ball wasn't moving. He dropped a few balls and it didn't bounce.

“That is his decision and I have absolutely no criticism of the referee whatsoever. We are just unbelievably disappointed.

“We will train and the lads have come in ready to work. We have a fair bit of pent up frustration after the last couple of games that we were looking forward to so wanted to hopefully take it out on Accrington.

“Now we have to wait another five days for the next game.

“It won't make any difference injury-wise as no one will be back in that time.

“So I hope no one is thinking we've got a few injuries so got the game called off.

“No one else will back for next Saturday or in two weeks time. So it makes no difference in that way to us.

“It's another game to fit in in just over two weeks that we could have done without.

“At this stage of the season with just six games to go we desperately wanted this game on today.”