MATCH referee David Webb has been explaining his decision to postpone Swindon Town's League Two clash at Accrington Staley yesterday, admitting he wanted to give the fixture every chance of going ahead.

Webb eventually called off yesterday's match at 12.30pm because of the condition of the Wham Stadium pitch and deteriorating weather conditions in the north west, prompting some criticism given that many travelling Town fans had already made the 200-mile trip north.

Webb initially inspected the surface at 10am with the match being signalled as okay to proceed before the decision was taken to reverse that call a couple of hours later after a further check.

“I spoke to Accrington secretary Mark Turner yesterday and arranged to travel down last night because of the weather which was predicted,” Webb told accringtonstanley.co.uk.

“I came to the ground at 10am and there were soft areas at the top end of the pitch but it was the area after the halfway line towards the away end which was hard.

“I wanted to give it time, give it the best chance, and if we had called it off at 9am or 10am people would have said it would be too early.

“There were signs of improvement at the top end when we inspected again at 12-12.30 but the away end remained really hard. It was like going through soft to concrete and so we decided to call it off for player safety.

“It was a difficult decision because the Swindon team had travelled and the Swindon fans were on their way but it was easy on the pitch because of player safety.”

Stanley boss John Coleman was in agreement with Swindon boss David Flitcroft that the official had been left in a difficult position.

“You’ve got to go with the referee’s decision haven’t you? His decision is final,” said Coleman.

“It’s just a bit of a blow because you get a phone call this morning saying it’s okay.

"So you get here you’re ready to go, the lads are full of beans and building themselves up. But I’m sure that it isn’t a decision that the referee would take lightly.

“It’s frustrating because it now means we will have gone a long time without a game of league football.”

“I can understand his (Webb's) thinking and we have to abide by that decision because it could be a danger to ours and Swindon’s players.''