Russell apologises as weather conspires against Parkway

PLYMOUTH Parkway chairman Mark Russell has apologised to fans that were inside Bolitho Park on Saturday, only for their Southern League Premier Division clash with Salisbury to be postponed, shortly before kick-off.

- STUART JAMES

The club arranged for an early morning inspection, which was carried out by a Step Three qualified referee, who deemed the pitch playable, despite the vast amount of rain that fall in the days preceding the fixture.

Unfortunately, a couple of heavy rain showers that fell - unexpectedly - between then and the scheduled kick-off time caused further issues for a pitch that has struggled to deal with the unprecedented rainfall we have had this winter and a second inspection, by the match referee, led to the game being called off.

Parkway have come in for some unfair criticism for the chain of events, despite doing everything they possibly could to get the match on. In fact, it is hard to have anything but great sympathy for the willing volunteers going above and beyond the call of duty to get games on, but there is nothing they can do to protect the pitch form Mother Nature.

Steven Dixon, a spokesperson for the MET Office even said that: "Winter so far has been significantly wetter than average for Devon, with little respite for saturated ground.

"After a significantly wetter than average February for the county, even small periods of rain can have impacts on saturated ground, as had been seen on many of the county's football pitches."